LMS Robotics Team Assignments!!

Post date: Sep 27, 2013 12:0:5 AM

Please read this entire page!!!

Congratulations to the following Lincoln Middle School students, who have earned a position on this years Lincoln Middle School Robotics First Lego League Competition Teams.

Team 4201 - Coaches - Mr. Jamie Beedy, Mrs. Kerrie Pasternak, Mr. David Guzzarde

Jake D.

Matt G.

Alex J.

John J.

Mackenzie M.

Tommie M.

Kenny O.

Tillie P.

Bobby T.

Nate T.

Team 4202 - Coaches - Mr. Brett Pasternak, Mr. Mike Gut

Annie C.

Josh D.

Connor G.

John G.

Jack K.

Thomas K.

Don M.

Ben P.

Andy R.

Kristen Z.

You can read more about the selection criteria that was used in making the Team Selections below.

Thanks to all the students that participated in the LMS Robotics club and hopefully you will participate in next years club.

Saturday Meeting

The Competition Teams will be holding our Kick Off Meeting and Bowling, this Saturday, September 28th from 10:00 am till 12:00 at the Beverly Lanes Bowling, 8 S. Beverly Lane, Arlington Hts. for all team members listed above. Parents are welcome to stay and learn more about the program. We will have a 1 Hour meeting, laying the groundwork for this season. Then from 11:00 till 12:00, the Team Members will be bowling and getting a chance to get to know their new team mates. The Coaches will be available during this time to answer any questions the parents may have.

Please fill out this form to let us know if you will be attending. If you are unable to attend, also e-mail Mr. Beedy at jamie@beedy.me so that we can send you some forms that we'd like filled out before our tuesday meeting.

Again, Congratulations and we're looking forward to working with you this season, having lots of fun, and maybe even learning a thing or two!!

LMS Robotics Coaches

Competition Team Selection Criteria

Every year, one of the most difficult parts of LMS Robotics is picking the students who will advance from the Club to the FLL Competition teams.

Team selection this year was very difficult because of the great amount of talent that came out for the club this year. Unfortunately, there are strict rules on the number of students per team that we must abide by, due to First Lego League (FLL) rules. We are very proud of the students for all the hard work they did in a very short amount of time! There were many variables that went into selecting the teams by the 6 coaches and myself. These variables include:

-Time Commitment- Attendance was crucial during the club to gauge their time commitment. The reason behind this is that the robotics team is about 6 hours per week at school (2 hours on Tuesdays and 4 hours on Saturdays) up until the regional competition on December 7 (unless they advance to state which is in January). Thursday practices also get scheduled as we near the competition.

-Homework Assignments- In addition to team meetings, there is mandatory homework/research for the project outside of team meetings. Typically, it is anywhere to 30 minutes to 2 hours a week. It is essential (and driven by the students) to complete the research so that the team can compile the information and work on the project portion of the competition. If one student misses an assignment, it really affects the progress of the entire team.

This was evaluated by the three homework assignments that were assigned throughout the club portion. These homework assignments helped to guide the process to show the interest level of the students. The final homework assignment asked 3 questions- why the student wanted to be on the team, what they could contribute, & what they hoped to learn from the experience. This assignment was weighted more heavily to see the student’s interest level and commitment to the team.

-Teamwork/Ability to work effectively in a group- It is important for students to be able to work well with others (teamwork is a huge component of FLL). The students were randomly selected and placed into a group for a 5- minute teamwork challenge. We also observed how they worked with their teammates and coaches during the club portion while building the robots and programming them.

-Engagement in the activities- The students on the team really want to be there and want to do the work and put forth the effort (which is why both of last year's teams were so successful, one of them even advancing to the World Championships). It was important for students to maximize their time while in the club by completing different tasks.

Congratulations to the team members that were awarded positions on the Competition teams. We hope that the rest will continue to support our two teams this year by visiting our web site and attending our competitions. And we hope that you'll participate in the club again next year.

If you have any questions on the selection process, please feel free to e-mail LMS Robotics Club Sponsor, Ms. Kristen Kaage