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First Lego League in Virginia and DC

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Sender:
First Lego League in Virginia and DC <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 22 Oct 2014 09:09:48 -0400
Reply-To:
Anant Narayanan <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:
From:
Anant Narayanan <[log in to unmask]>
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To: B Bergenstock <[log in to unmask]>
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A small correction.  The topic for the following year is released in
November, not the following May.

As Brandy said, the summer is a great time to get ahead on the research.
When the official rules come out in the last week of August, some
fine-tuning will be necessary, but as long as the research was done in
adequate depth, this should not ordinarily require a restart.

Our teams usually continue on the past season game in the winter term,
Dec-Mar. (to see how they could have done better) and continue learning new
skills in the spring term, Apr-Jun (to create new capabilities for the
following season).

The off-season work is also a great time to preview potential new
team-members, as good team chemistry is vital to competitive success,
perhaps even more important that team (knowledge of) physics!

Good luck.

Nari Narayanan



*---------------------------------------------------------- Anant S
Narayanan Founder & Executive Director*

*McLean Robotics Institute*



* McLean VA 22102 202-421-3826 (cell) [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>
-----------------------------------------------------------*

On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 9:30 PM, B Bergenstock <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> The topic for the year is released in May. To date, they have not put any
> perimeters on the way the kids can approach the topic so if you know the
> topic, you can start researching and looking for solutions over the
> summer.  We found this essential for getting through our year.
> Aeronia P. offered a nice schedule break down of meetings.
> Brandy
>
> On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 5:29 AM, Fredrik Nyman <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> How do you get your teams working on their research project over the
>> summer, before the challenge is known?
>>
>> Also, for those of you who have school-based teams, do you have your
>> teams meet and practice year-round, or just during FLL season Sep-Nov?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 10:32 PM, B Bergenstock <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Core values, while it's wonderful to work on with special practices that
>>> can bring a team together, many teams don't practice this skill. If you
>>> have a few practices between now and your tournament, start each session
>>> off or end it in a fun way that helps them work together.  If you choose to
>>> try it out, just to give them a taste of it, google "instant challenge".
>>> But you can certainly throw caution to the wind and just let them be
>>> themselves in the core value room.
>>>
>>> We did not have a board the year we got grand Champion, so you don't
>>> need one to advance. Again, this is for the kids' benefit, but if they feel
>>> confident speaking then they don't need one in the judging room for robot
>>> design.  I would still print out a few of their robot missions so they can
>>> show the judges and talk to them.  They don't have to be mounted to a
>>> board. We put ours in a notebook that the kids walked into the room with
>>> the book and opened while they talked about programming.
>>>
>>> I do not know if you can advance to state if you are missing a component
>>> of the tournament?  I feel there is so much to be gained from FLL, if this
>>> year your team doesn't get the research, definitely try to start earlier
>>> next year with your team and spend the summer starting the research
>>> project.  They will have the advantage of focusing on what is working well
>>> this year and will have a positive association with the experience and be
>>> more likely to come back. The one thing I hate to see is kids driven out by
>>> pressure. FLL is great, and everyone can find their niche in the FIRST
>>> family.   LOL, we did the opposite the first year; we were overwhelmed by
>>> the robot game and programming and put all our effort into the research
>>> project. My team was excited at the end of the season, and we had 95%
>>> return the following year where we got better at the robot game. Maybe your
>>> team is on the other path :)
>>> Brandy
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 10:08 PM, Jessica Chittum <[log in to unmask]
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> I am a total newbie coach here!  Our 10 kids are really working very
>>>> hard to learn NXT programing, figure out these missions, complete the build
>>>> for the attachments and complete a project.  I am feeling a bit overwhelmed
>>>> by adding 3 additional tasks of completing project boards for the project,
>>>> robot and core values.  Are these project boards absolutely crucial or are
>>>> they optional for teams to show their work?  Thanks very much for your help
>>>> with this.
>>>>
>>>> Jessica
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 8:07 PM, Amy Nichols <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Faith,
>>>>>
>>>>> When our kids got ready to create their presentation this year, I gave
>>>>> them a list of things that needed to go in it...which I took from the
>>>>> rubrics.  So they do cover everything in the rubrics but it's in the form
>>>>> of a skit. The list I gave them looked something like:
>>>>>
>>>>> *Clearly say what your problem is
>>>>> *Talk about your sources
>>>>> *Talk about your research and what you learned
>>>>> *Explain your solution clearly
>>>>> *Tell how your solution makes learning _____ better for kids.
>>>>> *How much will your project cost?
>>>>> *More imagination the better
>>>>>
>>>>> So because they only have 5 minutes, some of these things are covered
>>>>> pretty briefly in their skit, but the judges will ask questions and let
>>>>> them expand on it during the question and answer.
>>>>>
>>>>> And I agree with Brandy...our kids used their boards to remember the
>>>>> points they want to make sure to talk about.  Really, the judges can't look
>>>>> at everything on the board in the time they have (other than when they're
>>>>> walking around), so it's more a tool for your kids, I think.  We did make a
>>>>> board for each of the judging sessions, but they only ended up using two of
>>>>> them.  Having them was very helpful.
>>>>>
>>>>> Good luck,
>>>>> Amy Nichols
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>   On Monday, October 20, 2014 9:55 AM, B Bergenstock <
>>>>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The research often comes in the form of a skit. I have seen projects
>>>>> from World research winners that looked like board presentation, with the
>>>>> kids in a line each speaking about their idea and a backboard for more
>>>>> info.
>>>>>  The most important thing, no matter what format they use, is that
>>>>> they be able to get out of all the information they wish to share in the
>>>>> time allotment- 5 minutes.  I coached a team one year and all the info and
>>>>> solution was at the end of the presentation, but because the kids went
>>>>> long, or very lowly in one case, they spent all their time on presenting
>>>>> the issue and never got to their solution. It wasn't a great plan and while
>>>>> I had stressed to them about time and we had done the skit many times, I
>>>>> now just tell the teams, "Nope, you can't back load your solution."
>>>>>
>>>>> The function of the presentation board can be varied. It often serves
>>>>> to make sure kids hit important markers that they carefully thought about
>>>>> in group, but might forget in their nervousness during or after the
>>>>> presentation. It also serves to tell teams in the pit area what your team
>>>>> did for their presentation; Sharing ideas and allowing other adults to ask
>>>>> question and celebrate their work.  I have seen several very successful
>>>>> boards that have 1 flap dedicated to each of the area of judging; robot
>>>>> design, presentation and core values. The teams will bring the board into
>>>>> each judging room and use it as a prop, sometimes talking about it,
>>>>> sometimes not- but always having it there as a backup :)
>>>>> To me, the main purpose of the boards is to help the kids and act as
>>>>> review of the process when they need it.  Using that as your guide will
>>>>> help decide what goes on the board.
>>>>> Good luck,
>>>>> Brandy
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 9:23 AM, Faith Mcgarrity <[log in to unmask]
>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Looking for some tips on the Project and presentation. Is the skit
>>>>> supposed to be informational designed to hit all the elements in the
>>>>> rubric? Like a school presentation. Or should it be a story type of skit
>>>>> showing our solution?  If the latter will the team have opportunity to fill
>>>>> in the rest of the elements ( ie the sharing or implementation) after the
>>>>> skit?
>>>>>
>>>>> And what is the function of the presentation board?  To document the
>>>>> solution?  Or can it incorporate core values experiences and/or robot game
>>>>> progress?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for your thoughts!
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>
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