[JesseK]

You know, every year I wonder if the mentors on my team are doing too much for the kids we have that year. Each year, the students change (they're all in FTC/VRC Freshmen-Juniors) and we just might get a Junior or two who will be around next year. The only knowledge continuity is via the mentors. I've grown accustomed to using my time keeping the students busy by pairing them up with each other and with mentors on various sub teams.

Then every year, around the end of Week 4, I realize that the students are starting to take charge. The students get it. They realize what to do for the next iteration of the design and how to make it better. They realize that choices have consequences for any given design, even if the consequences aren't immediate. Then it doesn't matter how hands on we were in Week 1. One or two days early on, sure we carried the students (someone had to order long-lead parts!) -- yet if we hadn't, who knows when the 'aha' moment would have happened. Now, even the (historically) lazy kids are very motivated and working hard.

That's the point: they're becoming problem solvers, rather than whiners filled with regretful ambivalence.

It took a sharp boot and big shoulders to get to this point, but who cares? To each team its own, IMO.