Average number of hours per week?

[Merle]

My experience from several years of FLL coaching is that 2hrs per week would not be enough (especially with a new team). I will agree with above posters that 4+ hrs per week is the desired amount. Our team typically meets 3-4 hrs per week using 1.5 or 2hr long meetings. I do not recommend going over 2hrs per meeting (student focus gets lost). We add an extra long meeting (vacation or weekend day) for writing out the project script (your not leaving until the task is complete type of meeting - hint, you need to include food & breaks to keep the students focused for long meetings), and during the last week we allow for anyone to come during afterschool hours to work independantly on the robots. We also add a project field trip (info gathering) and library demo (demo robot and project presentation) to our schedule.

I would recommend that anyone looking for tips/info/NXT help/coaching help with FLL use the FIRST forums at forums.usfirst.org - there is much more activity in the FIRST forum for FLL support than occurs here on CheifDelphi.

Also, to locate FLL teams/mentors/coaches near by for help in starting a team you can try the FIRST TeamUp portal at: https://my.usfirst.org/FIRSTPortal/l...ogin.aspx?s=fc

Merle
Granby Red Blox - FLL Coach
Jr Granby Red Blox - JrFLL Coach
Granby GRUNTS - 3146 - Mentor