Does anyone have a process for “screening” students before allowing them into their robotics club? I have about 70 students this year which is difficult to manage mainly because some students are really into robotics and some are just here because parents need an hour of babysitting. HAHA…Also, how did you group your students?
I’ve never screened students – if they show up they participate. Obviously, this has caused some interesting problems in the past with buying enough parts, finding enough build space, and recruiting adult mentors to help out, but I would rather deal with that than with turning kids away. As for grouping kids, if you are talking about creating competition teams, the only thing I’ve found that works consistently is to let them be on teams with their friends. We do set some guidelines, though – no team can have fewer than 4 or more than 7 students (to prevent “bored kid” syndrome). Dealing with adolescent egos can be time consuming, but it creates more successful teams. Do you have a middle school program? If you are running an elementary school program, just ignore me – I’ve only dealt with older kids.
Thank you Rick Tyler. I basically did the same. I created the groups, but tried to group them with friends. I didn’t use a screening process (obviously), but heard someone mention it on another post and was curious what that looked like. For the most part, it has been a successful program, but definitely not without some challenges. I would really love it if there was some Vex Specific training opportunities where we could discuss things like this. Thanks again.