Hi Jennifer
It is really hard work to coach a FLL team
especially a group of 12 years old kids. Every kid learns differently, but we have to remember that they are still
elementary and middle school students that are used to having teachers walking
them through text books with examples and homework. I don’t think that they are quite ready for the
college level of “looking things up for themselves” without a little coaching
and direction from an adult. I’ve found
a very interesting article from Carleton College in Minnesota on the four (4) learning
styles that I would like to share with everyone. An extract of their web page is below:
Active-Reflective
· "Active learners tend to retain
and understand information best by doing something active with it--discussing
or applying it or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to think
about it quietly first."
· "'Let's try it out and see how
it works' is an active learner's phrase; 'Let's think it through first' is the
reflective learner's response."
Sensing-Intuitive
· "Sensing learners tend to like
learning facts; intuitive learners often prefer discovering possibilities and
relationships."
Visual-Verbal
· "Visual learners remember best
what they see--pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and
demonstrations. Verbal learners get more out of words--written and spoken
explanations."
· "Everyone learns more when
information is presented both visually and verbally."
Sequential-Global
· "Sequential learners tend to
follow logical stepwise paths in finding solutions; global learners may be able
to solve complex problems quickly or put things together in novel ways once
they have grasped the big picture, but they may have difficulty explaining how
they did it."
(Source: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/earlycareer/teaching/learningstyles.html)
While there is no one teaching method that will work
for every kid, I have found that a lot of them are visual-verbal learner having
grown up with TV, movies, videogames and the Internet. The best advice is to show them some examples
and let them figure out how to apply what they have seen and learn -- with some
coaching of course. There are a lot of good
examples on YouTube. Just search on
YouTube for Lego Robotics or FLL examples and show it to them. A good NXT example that shows how to use a
light sensor is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZFoHjnkVCw (I’ve not try the codes and not so sure how it will run).
Having said all that, please don’t forget that the
team only needs to be in the top 40% robotics performance score to advance to
State if they do well on their three core judging areas. You can only challenge them enough with
alternative approaches and Robotics strategies, but if they are comfortable
with using only move blocks and having FUN in achieving a good robotics score,
you could guide them to focus more on the three rubrics to see how they can win
Champion award to advance to the State competition.
You have also indicated that this maybe their last
year! However, they should continue with
FLL during middle school until 14. Just
remind them not to get discourage since there are less competition in Division-2
it is much easier to advance to State during their middle school years. There
are also FTC and FRC programs at the high school level. These are all great STEM programs for
students that have an interest in science and technology while preparing them
for colleges.
Best wishes,
T. (Curt) Tran
Judge Advisor, GMU
Regional ’11 & '12
Judge Advisor, TJHSST
Regional ’09
Mentor Team #5390,
Kilmer-I ’09
Mentor Team #8941,
Kilmer-II ’09
Coach Team #324,
Scitobor ’08
Coach Team #3563, Rabid
Llama Lords ’07
________________________________
From: Fredrik Nyman <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Wise coaching
Check out page 46 in the EV3 programming guide linked to from the FLL
coach/team resource page:
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/Challenge/TeamResources/NaturesFury/2013EV3Programming.pdf
That page shows you how to make a line follower using the EV3 color sensor.
If your team uses the NXT, then look at page 35 the NXT programming
guide instead:
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/Challenge/TeamResources/SeniorSolutions/2012Programming1.pdf
I have found these demo programs thoroughly useful. The kids love
seeing the robot follow the line, and when they see the robot behaving
intelligently, that really helps getting them to start thinking about
what other things the robot could decide for itself.
On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 11:39 PM, Jennifer Armstrong <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I am wondering the best coaching method. I could ramble on about "on the
> other hand" quite a bit, but I'll try to keep it short. How do you motivate
> learning?
>
> I coach and I have an engineer mentor helping out. This is our third year,
> and his opinion all season has been if the kids want to accomplish a lot,
> they have the ability to look things up for themselves. They are all over
> 12 years old except one. I concurred, but now that we're getting close to
> the end, I'm rethinking.
>
> My boys want to use only move blocks. As this may be our last year, I'd
> like to branch out and use a sensor (light). They are sure that move blocks
> using rotations are the best. Ideally I would like to run tests to gauge
> both, but I can't make the light sensor work myself. And there's not much time.
>
> Should I force the issue and make them stretch giving them the final say, or
> do I let them do the same old thing? Do we waste lots of time angling and
> adjusting degrees, or do we plow through until we learn how to make the
> sensor work going on my word that it will be more accurate?
>
> I know it's supposed to be team driven, the kids do the work, but is there a
> way to challenge them and it still be fun? They seem to be in a rut.
>
> Thanks,
> Jennifer
>
>
>
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