Kids do have natural preferences, some mostly like to build stuff and some are more naturally attracted to the programming.  I tried to expose all of them to everything but tried to form sub-groups with a good cross section.  We were fortunate to have two complete robots to work with so we could split into two sub-teams, each working different missions.

 

For the competition: the team gets to go up to the table a total of 4 times (one practice and three scoring rounds).  I recommend each team member be allowed up at the table at least once if possible because that’s really where the excitement is.  In our case we have 8 boys so they’ll all get a shot at the table (2 are allowed up each time).  For the competition I’ll probably draw straws to see which pairs get to go up to the table during which rounds (the first one is just a practice so it doesn’t count).   While you perhaps could improve your score by picking just one set of team members to always run the robot, that goes against a lot of what FLL is all about.

 

During our practice rounds in our working sessions I let them up at our table in rotating pairs (with two other team members playing timer and ref respectively) so they all get comfortable with setting up and running the robot.

 

Glenn

 

 

 

Hi fellow coaches,

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