FLL GETTING TOUGHER IN MICHIGAN

Each year it is a full time job trying to teach the students about FLL Project, Core Values and Robot design. Even this year it seems overwelming and now with two weeks to our first FLL competition (practice) we have to do even more. The michigan teams just recieved the following.

October 17, 2011
Michigan FLL Teams,
In order for you to prepare for your upcoming tournaments, we want to inform you that we are part of a FLL pilot. This pilot will help you prepare for two of your judged interviews.
• The first pilot requires teams to make a poster for Core Values judging. This poster will explain some of the more abstract parts of your team to the judges, and will facilitate the conversation between your team and the judges. A more detailed explanation and description is available on the website at www.firstinmichigan.org/fll . Look in Announcements (on the left toolbar) and you will find some news posted on October 16, 2011.
• The second pilot will require your team to prepare a one page report for Robot Design judging. This is called a Robot Design Executive Summary. The summary is intended to introduce the judges to your robot and your design process. A more detailed explanation and description is available on the website at www.firstinmichigan.org/fll . Look in Announcements (on the left toolbar) and you will find some news posted on October 16, 2011.
While these pilots might require a little more work on the part of your team prior to the tournament, we believe they will make it easier for your team when meeting with judges. We expect more quality interviews through this process.
While we don’t know if any Michigan teams will advance to the World Festival in St. Louis, Missouri, it is expected that these pilot activities will be followed there. We think this will help our Michigan teams.

Best of Luck to All Michigan FLL Teams,

They should have given this to us at the begining of the season and maybe we would have a chance to complete it.

I’m surprised that this thread isn’t getting any posts.

The poster of Core Values and the one page report called the Robot Design Executive Summary are great ideas and can be implemented well, helping to showcase the team’s efforts and strengths. At the same time, the timing regarding this FLL pilot may a little difficult for the teams to negotiate.

The teams will figure out how to implement these new pilots and I do agree with the comment that they will contribute to more quality interviews with the judges. I do think their introduction into the competition could have been a little more timely.

Good luck with this.

Jane

In replying to another thread on FLL, I stumbled across a page on judging on the FLL website. Apparently, what FiM is now asking for from FLL teams is not unique to Michigan. The page links to something called a Team Profile Sheet, and reads:

Some regions refer to these as Team Introduction, Team Profile or Team Information Pages; others prefer to use their own form. As each region determines if/how this form will be used (for example they may collect in advance via email or ask you to bring multiple copies to provide directly to the judges), please check with your local event organizer if you have any questions regarding plans for use in your area.