[GeorgeTheEng]

One of my fellow mentors hit the perfect phrase in my mind... "Lead by Example" In some cases that may be simple direction or even answering questions but letting the kids work on thier own. Or it may involve doing something complex either with the students by your side or guiding them through your thought process afterwards (though I dislike the last one because of time constraints that usually gets skipped).

The important thing is to avoid the situation where the students feel they are not part of the design and build process. Where they feel that thier presence is not needed or wanted when the robot is being constructed. It leaves the kids with no pride in what has been accomplished. It doesn't make them feel part of the team.

We are actually going through a radical team reorganization to avoid that exact issue. Personally, when the kids feel that way I have to beleive that myself and the other mentors have failed our kids.

However the team decides to operate, the important thing is that the sponsors and school adminstration are happy. (In my case I found out yesterday my VP was livid that the students had such a small part in the build) And also that the kids are having a worthwhile and fun experience.

Personally, I sometimes find mentors are too limited in thier decisions. Engineers tend to stick with "well, we know how to do this so we'll keep doing it this way". Students, esp when they come and go tend to bring creativity and different approaches that us old curmudgeon sometime lack.