[indieFan]

Before asking EricH's question, I think the question to ask of yourself and the other mentors is whether the robotics team is going to function like a club or a team. A club is going to have different expectations of time/involvement than a team. Once the adults determine that, it will guide where you want to take the member participation level.

I've been on one team that operated as a team. Attendance was required three days a week and on Saturdays during build season, and eventually became a class with those hours. During the non-build season, the class did not meet on Saturdays.

The team I'm on now operates as a club. We encourage students to attend, but if something else comes up (such as bowling tournaments), we just ask to be notified to allow us to determine when/how something will be accomplished. This team also stresses that schoolwork comes first, so students may come sit in the classroom and do homework or stay home to do so. Again, communication with the mentors/teacher allow us to handle whatever needs to happen with those that do show up.

(On a side note, we've tried to do journals where students write what was done that day, what needs to be done, etc. We will be working with them in the off-season to show them what a journal entry really needs to contain since many of the entries this year were inadequate in the details provided. "Drill holes in arm" doesn't say how many, where, or size which are required to do the job correctly.)