My FLL teams (RCX team and NXT team) have been meeting for about 4 weeks now. So far, I think that the progress has been good. The RCX team got off to a really great start and is now slowing down some, running into the normal issues that the kids have to work through.
I think it’s a little more frustrating for them right now because of their quick start. The RCX team had students who had experience with the kit before and felt no hesitation just jumping right into the middle and working. I think their quick pace at the beginning may have set some slightly unrealistic expectations for them and now that they’re running into some problems they feel discouraged. They’re totally discouraged, but frustrated with the slow-down.
The NXT team, on the other hand, started off really slowly and has been picking up speed. None of the kids had really had experience with the new NXT kit so they were all in the same boat. Its taken some time, but the kids have slowly learned to work with the kit. The more they meet, the more excited they get about their robot and the work they’re doing.
Of the two groups, I prefer the NXT groups learning. Not to say that I like that team better, but I think that having everyone start on the same level makes it much easier for them to work. Unlike the NXT team, the RCX team had to deal with some kids knowing more than others and being mostly 5th graders, they don’t have much patience for anything.
The other night I had a very interesting experience. I was working with the NXT kids, helping them build the robot. At one point I had gotten four kids all building different pieces of the robot. They were all diligently working on their task, while four other kids were all programming. There were about fifteen minutes were all the kids were quietly working and I didn’t have to do anything. Then, all of a sudden I was flooded with kids asking for help. All of the kids seem to run into problems within five minutes of each other.
I’m very one-on-one with the kids, so when they all are asking for help, I obviously can’t help them all. I’m still not sure about how to solve the problem or find a way to get to all the kids. I did the best I could with trying to point each kid in the right direction and letting them go. It also made me realize the importance of planning much farther ahead than the students.
Generally, the teams are doing very well and I think that both of them will be successful at the competition.
Filed under FIRST, Life, School