I will open up another issue around the paper notebook that RECF sends out with the VIQ registration kits. These could not be more of a hostile human user interface. Giant graph paper grids in the book. No simple lined blocks for text. So roboteers write one character in each square and the notebook soon looks like a NY Times Crossword puzzle. Really RECF, your way to help the design process is a book that degrades the ability for 4th and 5th graders to convey information? And you want them to do it in INK?!? Nobody does a crossword in ink, well only pompous, egalitarian showoffs, and then only in the context of “Well of course I do the Sunday Times in Ink” (see Fraiser TV Show) But I digress.
There are lots of design layouts you could have chosen. The book does start off with a Table of Contents. Since you know what the rubric looks like, you could almost set a notebook up with a page to put Team Members on, two pages labeled Table of Contents, then two pages labeled Game Description, a blank page for a Game Drawing, a page labeled Strategy, Brainstorming, Design etc. working your way down the rubric. Something helpful they can use to get started, since they are all new at this. I do love the parts template on the back, it’s a huge help. Remember the goal is to lift all robots, giving them a helpful notebook is an awesome way to do that.
And since you’ve made the notebook a requirement for all judged awards, this would be a great step forward to getting younger teams on their way.
For those of you out there also suffering from poorly designed notebooks, may I suggest:
https://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
Specifically the Free Online Graph Paper / Cornell Note-taking Lined and Free Online Graph Paper / Cornell Note-taking Graph
Assemble your own collection of pages, take to your favorite Staples store and get them to bind it for you. ( Cover bind with an adhesive spine makes it a bound book. I put clear plastic on the front and back to protect the book)
(I’m a fan of a blank page to start (will be the cover with team name, etc.), then a few lined pages for TOC (use a multi-column for date, topic, page), a few more lined pages for game descriptions and then alternate graph and lined. I use the boxes at the bottoms for Date/Time, who wrote the page, etc. ) When gluing pictures into the book, the side blank margins can be used to label the pictures. next to the last page is the rubric and back cover is the parts guide)
Fill with huge amounts of information about your amazing robot
This gives you a low cost, custom notebook for your team(s). At about 10 cents a page, a custom, bound notebook is yours for under $10.
Good luck on your season!