So I was hoping for more clarification but the IQ Judging video from the EP summit is not up… And I have some questions about STEM!
First, all of the official documentation is that the STEM project is optional. A little birdy told me that if an event had 24 teams then we would be expected to have STEM.
Does the judging have to be done at the competition, or can some judges do it the night before?
For excellence, it falls under “other awards.” That is usually a minor consideration. How much impact does the RECF want STEM to have on Excellence?
That’s good questions for RECF but I’ll give you my take.
STEM is optional at events except at the State/Regional level. I’m not offering any STEM awards at any of my events.
The teams need to submit video’s 1 week before. I guess if you want to watch them the day OF the event you could. I think most of the EP’s are thinking they will get judged the week before the event so it’s out of the way for the event. (I’ve been to two local EP discussions and the talk was having them done by Wed/Thurs before.
It’s an other award, it should have zero impact on the Excellence Award.
I really just have no idea how much the kids will enjoy doing it. My students, on the whole, did not like the STEM project presentation.
I think more kids will be interested in making a video than doing a presentation, but they will be interested in doing to robot thing even more. I am thinking that without the STEM project teams of 4 will be a little big and I should go for teams of 3, meaning I may need to buy a few things…
I do have people that would like to volunteer but they can’t because of the day/time, but would love to do the judging for this. They would not be there for the event, so they would have no input on excellence.
But, in the end, it still feels like a distraction from the robot thing…
Can you imagine if they tried to implement STEM for VRC? You thought BO1 outrage was bad??? lol… Not gonna happen, cause it’s just not relevant. I’m glad they are going in this direction.
But I hope we get some official ruling. Consistency is the key.
STEM is NOT part of the Excellence Award in 2018-2019. So your evenings only people would be fine to do your STEM judging. And that is what I’ll use for the Delmarva Championship.
I’ve been running teams of 4 for robot building. That seems to be a good number because I’m 100% sure that there will be two drivers at each event.
I’m thinking of floating the addition to the STEM award over on the Vexforum. I’m pretty much done with the Best Of 1 manufactured drama, so maybe I can use the STEM award to derail B01.
**#1: **The wording in the Awards Appendix ( http://link.roboticseducation.org/ve…awardsappendix ) is: [INDENT]Teams do not have to submit a STEM project to be eligible for the Excellence Award.[/INDENT] **#2: **The key criteria from the Awards Appendix for the Excellence Award is:
Design Award ranking
Teamwork Challenge Qualification Matches ranking
Robot Skills Challenge ranking
**Other Judged award rankings**
High quality VEX robotics program
**#3: **Inside the Awards appendix you will see that the STEM Presentation Award is listed under 'Other Awards' on page 3:
What does this all mean?
The STEM Research Project is no longer a requirement for the Excellence Award. This means you are not excluded from consideration for the Excellence Award if you do not submit a STEM Presentation in tournaments that offer STEM Presentation awards.
It is not true that STEM Presentation have no part in awarding the Excellence Award. The STEM Presentation is in the ‘Other Judged Awards’ that is listed as Key Criteria for the Excellence award in the Awards Appendix. In tournaments where the STEM Presentation is offered, it is within the area of consideration for who deserves an Excellence Award.
The truth is that the impact that the STEM Presentation has on the Excellence has been reduced from last year, but it the impact has not been eliminated.
The STEM Research document (https://www.roboticseducation.org/documents/2018/07/stem-research-project-presentation-2018-19.pdf) says The Judges will evaluate each entry using the STEM Research Project Rubric and will also focus on: • The students featured in the video are demonstrating the work they have done for the project. • The students have demonstrated how many different math components played a role in their project or how the subject of their research affected math as we know it today. • The video is easily understood, clearly presented, creative and is enjoyable to watch – it engages the learner. • The video is produced by the student with minimal adult help. It is of good quality, including resolution, editing and sound (all music must be in the public domain and/or credited properly).
These items are not shown in the Rubric. Do we evaluate the project using the Rubric AND these items. What numeric value do we assign to them? Some of these seem to be very subjective.
As a judge advisor, STEM judge I often get this question from coaches: “Should I have my teams prepare a STEM research project video for the championship and why is it important?”
I did not think this was a local question so I emailed the officials based on the STEM judging video. I followed up with a phone call as well just to make sure.
It is my understanding that 2 teams from each regional championship will be able to present their STEM research project at Worlds: the STEM award winner and the Excellence Award Winner. I would assume that an Excellence winner for World would have a STEM research project video. I was WRONG.
It is completely optional and I suggested looking at the “other judged awards” that STEM would be one of them, and I was told NO. STEM should be decided before the event, not at the event and it should have NO impact on Excellence, that is why it is not at the end of the Judge Guide printed “colorful” pages. Only the “judged awards” from pages 26-35 should be taken into account.
The teams moving on to Worlds based on a Judged award will be able to present STEM if they have one and they won Excellence or STEM award .
