Underwater Dreams (2014)
Underwater Dreams is a documentary about a few Latin high school boys from a poor high school in Arizona who enter an underwater robotic competition. The boys did not have much money and built their robot using PVC piping from Home Depot. The two high school teachers, expecting to lose badly, decided to place their team in the university category believing that would decrease the kid’s disappointment when they lost to elite schools like MIT. But, spoiler alert, the high school kids win the competition and beat MIT. This documentary would have been like an unbelievable Hollywood movie except that it included interviews with both the high school kids and MIT students, making it plausible and more interesting.
The documentary’s second half interviews the high school boys and the MIT students years later. The big surprise is that all the boys were either undocumented residents of the US or sons of undocumented residents and how difficult their lives were even after winning the competition.
The Mars Generation (2017)
The Mars Generation (Netflix) is a documentary about a group of highly enthusiastic high school kids attending NASA Huntsville, Alabama Space Camp. The kids are obsessed with space and are so excited about their camp. The documentary captures their enthusiasm as they simulate rocket design and launches and discuss the importance of sending people to Mars. The kids are bright and curious; you can see they will be the next generation of aerospace engineers, astrophysicists and rocket scientists and are an excellent source of inspiration for kids who love STEM subjects. In addition to the campers, there are interviews with experts and a good review of the history of spaceflight.
More Than Robots (2022)
More Than Robots (Disney) follows four high school robotics teams from the USA, Mexico and Japan preparing for the annual FIRST robotics competition in 2020. The FIRST competition, founded by Segway and insulin pump inventor Dean Kamen, attracts high school students worldwide. Each team gets a package with the same materials and has six weeks to build and program their robot.
The FIRST Robotics Competition expects critical thinking, hard work, dedication, collaboration and problem-solving, which are essential life skills. The kids aren’t just building robots but a community and self-worth. They show that through teamwork, no matter what the challenge is, whether it’s a lack of resources, lack of knowledge, or even a global pandemic, you can make a substantial impact.
After working hard for weeks, the robotics teams found out the finals are cancelled because of COVID-19. But the creative and hard-working teens still find ways to support each other and their communities.
Science Fair (2018)
Science Fair (National Geographic) is a competition documentary that follows nine bright high school students worldwide on their journey to compete at The International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2017 in Los Angeles. The Winner of ISEF collects $75,000. When watching these kids’ obsessive desire to do their research projects, they are inspirational role models for other kids to encourage their interest in science. The documentary shows these kids on their path to change their lives and the world through science.
Codegirl (2015)
Codegirl is a competition-style documentary that follows teams of high school girls from around the world as they compete in Technovation. In this annual mobile app contest, girls compete to develop an app that serves their community’s needs, release it and win $10,000.
At the beginning of the documentary, there is a quote, “Fewer large companies are run by women than by men named John,” which describes the inequality girls face in business and technology.
In the Technovation competition, teams identify a problem in their community and apply technology to fix it. The documentary is less about the competition and more about the competitors being bitten by the app bug. Though many of the girls did not win Technovation, it seemed more important for them to solve the problems in their communities.
Many of these girls might not otherwise learn to write code or think about starting a business and solving major world problems.