Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1. Positive Statement

I thought my activities were well thought out and they had the entire class immersed. I also made sure to tie everything back to the EQ and my answer and i thought that worked out well.

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

       AE       P          AP       CR       NC

       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.
I met all the P Requirements first of all. One of the things i think i did really well on was engaging the audience. My hook activity made everybody pull out their phones and send in messages that the whole class could see and it became a fun little game. For my activity, i also set everybody in groups and made them engage in the activity by creating a competition which enticed them to work together on creating balloon cars to race against one another. For the Audience Involvement criteria, i firmly believe that i was able to backup my EQ with my activity and the hook really caught their attention and held a bit of depth in their mind.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?
I had a nice and cohesive presentation that tied in well with my activities. My presentation looked good and i made time. My activity was also very interactive and it made for a good followup to my EQ answer.
4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?
I wasn't as rehearsed as i wish i had been and also the time for my activity was shorter than i anticipated. Some of the stuff i wanted to same didn't come out as eloquently as i had planned and thats mainly because i was just running through the whole presentation for the first time.

5. Finding Value
What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?  
Answer 2 is going to involve the multi-level STEM program progression, or basically how the multiple levels of STEM programs provides good interest in STEM.

January Extra Blog Post

So in january, we have been invited to showcase our robot in a FIRST Robotics Competition. Our robot was chosen by Richard Sisk to represent his team in a younger robotics division. I also had an interview with Richard recently that helped me a lot with my EQ because of his insight into the FIRST program and his ideals as a mentor. His team was deep in the build season and he barely had time to be interviewed but it was evident that the team was busy and bustling and ready to go.
The interview proved to be very useful and supplied me with a lot of the information that i will be able to use for my answer.

Our competition season is over now so we cant compete anymore really. Although we have been trying to apply to another competition up in sacramento, our hopes of really going there are slim to none due to cost issues. At this point, we dont really know where to go with our robot. We have started applying for grants for money so that we may buy more parts next year. We also got invited to showcase our robot as a new rookie team. I hope to continue to volunteer with FIRST and i will be attending an event on february 2nd which i will write about in the february blog. 

Not much else is happening but here are some photos of the team working together and planning. I took these photos at a recent meeting and most of it consisted of planning for the future. For now, we just look forward and hope for the best.

These photos were taken before the competition day on the 11th. I wasn't able to go and take photos of the competition because i went on the hike trip but i was there with the team helping them prepare. They didn't do too well from what i heard though. So much for all their preparation.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

Content:

Post 10 open-ended questions for approval you want to ask an expert in the field of your senior project.  The first question should be your essential question and the other nine must be about the foundation of your essential question or help you answer your essential question.

How best can FIRST keep students involved in STEM?

What sort of outreach programs do you guys do and who benefits most from it?

What got you involved in FTC and how has it changed you?

What is the most important thing that the kids you mentor take away from this experience?

What is the importance of STEM in our world today and why do you think we should keep students involved in it?

How well do you think programs like FRC/FTC/FLL keep students involved in STEM and why is that?

FTC/FRC/FLL aren't the only programs out there, what do you think it is about this program that makes it different? And none of that Gracious Professionalism/ coopertition stuff, give me the real low down.

As a mentor, whats in it for you that keeps you coming back for more?

What kind qualifications did you need or did you have to be a part of this and how or why did your team start?

What is it about the spirit of competition that just gets kids and students alike so riled up about these robots?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 hours check

Content:

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?



With the Inland Empire Broncos Robotics Team. We work together with mentors from Cal Poly.

2.   Who is your contact?


Joey Uken

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?

62 hours
 
4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.


The 10 hours of service i did involved a lot of meetings with our mentors on Fridays and Sundays usually for 3 hours. We would meet and then work together on our robot with them giving us tips as well as ideas for what we should do. We would also pitch ideas and show off our work then receive feedback from it. The robot was always the main focus. Our meetings were basically like a small office. We had people working on fundraising and coverage as well as media and then we had people actually hands on with the robot and then we had other people working on coding program for the movement of the robot. That is usually how every meeting with our mentors goes.

Senior Project, the Holiday

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you over the break with your senior project?


Over the break, as part of my senior project the robotics club and i met periodically to work on our robot for our next qualifying tournament. We met on December 29th for 4 hours and worked with the group on fixing our robot for the next tournament. I also had a meeting with them on January 3rd and we did basically the same things and the most recent meeting was January the 5th where we have a working model of our robot that is a large improvement over our previous robot. We have the Qualifying tournament on January the 11th but i will not be able to attend. Our next meeting to completely finish all of our work as well as the qualifying stuff will be on Wednesday January 8th.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

There were many important things i learned from our meetings together with the team. In reference to my EQ, What is most important in winning a FIRST Tech Challenge, i usually observe the group and participate when i need to during our robotics meetings. In reality, what im learning in this team with our robotics group, are life skills that may extend beyond just high school and this group. Its us as a team, focusing our efforts and our skills and downfalls to complete a project from start to finish. I also analyzed the winning teams at the first competition we had. I saw robots modeled like a miniature moving tank and other robots that were quick and agile. I looked for what made them great and what made them win. What i saw was cooperation from all parts of the team from the fundraisers to the mechanical assembly kids all the way to the programmers. That was important.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I would talk to a mentor or a coach from one of the winning teams. Maybe get their perspective and idea on why they think they won. It would be helpful not only to my senior project but to my team as well.