Getting every member to know everything possible.

[JoeXIII'007]

As a mentor, I have no trouble at all helping out the middle school LEGO League Team on small things such as getting things to work, getting the game board set up, etc. In the past 2 years, however, I have been put in a bigger role of trying to manage the team so that everything works out as best as possible. I've been fairly successful at teaching about drivetrains, but not too great on how exactly to build them; how to program, and how to do other significant things.

Today, I had a quick chat with the advisor of the team, and she was a bit concerned about how every member on it would be able to get the needed information for competition. Specifically for the technical presenatation, and how the members are going to be able to know how the robot was built (design techniques, etc), what are the tech specs, what programs are on it, etc. The big problem is that there is a chance that not every person is going to be able to do what they want to do with the bot, and therefor, not everyone is going to know everything they want to know about the robot. That is undoubtedly a challenge to overcome.

So, I need some ideas. I already have a drafted strategy, but I need some input: how exactly do you, as a mentor or part of a group of mentors, overcome/tackle the challenge to get every single FLL team member to know a reasonable but significant amount of info regarding the robot? As far as the team I mentor is concerned: there are about 11 members (all middle schoolers), 2-4 mentors, and the advisor.

Thanks.

-Joe