LA-FLL JUDGE TRAINING Rick Sisk, Regional Judge Advisor

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NOW! You are about to meet some of the most amazing kids ever. They have been working hard for the last 8 weeks to build a competitive robot… and skills that will serve them well for the rest of their lives. You will be… An investigator A reporter An ambassador

TOURNAMENT DAY 7AM – Volunteer check in. Find the Judge Advisor and introduce yourself 830AM – Opening ceremonies 900AM – Judging starts. Be in your judging rooms. Teams will be waiting. 12PM – Lunch, interviews complete During lunch, work with other judges to rank and sort teams in your judging area 1PM – Begin deliberations 3PM – Complete deliberations, competition rounds finish Choose Champions, select award winners 330PM – Award ceremony, high five teams 400PM – Go home

JUDGING PROCESS Work in teams of two 10 minutes with the team, 10 minutes between teams to add comments to rubrics Include constructive comments on rubrics Take good notes during the interview, include team number and name Ask open ended questions relevant to the rubrics Rank teams after each interview Stay on time! Politely guide the conversation if necessary What happens in the judging room, stays in the judging room. Be careful what you say when you are “out in the wild” Remember to be Gracious and Professional Judge advisor will let you know if anyone is allowed in the judging room with the team.

WHAT SHOULD I BRING? Wear business casual clothes Notebook and pen Timekeeping device (cell phone, watch)

RUBRIC BASICS A rubric for each judging area; Robot Design, Project, Core Values Each area divided into three topics (Inspiration, Teamwork, Gracious Professionalism for Core Values) 5 levels of achievement Exemplary (keywords: All, Never, Always) Accomplished (keywords: Most, Usually, Few) Developing (keywords: Some, At least) Beginning (keywords: Not evident, Minimal) ND – Not Demonstrated. Some teams just don’t have certain areas covered. ND tells them they need to work in this area. Make sure team truly meets the criteria for the achievement. ALWAYS add constructive comments. Teams use your feedback to know how to improve

CORE VALUES We are a team. We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors. We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together. We honor the spirit of friendly competition. What we discover is more important than what we win. We share our experiences with others. We display Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition® in everything we do. We have FUN!

CORE VALUES Core values activity Teams are given 3 minutes to complete an activity. Keep guidance to a minimum, observe how team handles the activity No right or wrong answers, judges are observing process. Teamwork, Respect, Inclusion, Efficiency, Effectiveness can all be observed during the activity. Sample questions Kids do the work: How would your team handle a meeting if your head coach was not able to make it? Integration: Do you have any examples of Core Values you would like to share? Johnny wants to do the Cloud mission, the rest of the team wants to do the Search Engine instead. How do you handle this?

CORE VALUES Inspiration Core Values, Project, Robot are all addressed in a balanced manner Team shirts, team cheer, have fun Examples and stories of Core Value experiences, especially outside the team. Teamwork Kids do the work, coaches guide Team is organized and well structured Team meetings are well organized Gracious Professionalism Encourage inclusion of all kids on the team, students should work as a team Don’t talk over other team members Compliment and encourage ideas among team members, don’t be judgmental Help other teams.

PROJECT 5 minute presentation by the team 5 minutes starts when the team arrives for judging (use your judgment) Any setup time by the students is included in the 5 minutes Be sure to evaluate team during presentation Look for creativity, relevance to the project 5 minute Q&A after presentation Ask for research references (bibliography) Project CAN improve on existing solutions Did team share with others Sharing with those that can benefit from the solution is best

PROJECT Research Look for a question that is well defined and concise. Multiple sources of information, multiple google searches are considered a single source. How much is the cost? Potential savings? Key metrics? Does a solution currently exist? Innovative Solution Look for a clear, concise, and complete solution. Includes how the project will impact the community. Is the project innovative? Is the solution novel or improve on existing solutions? Presentation Did team share with others, especially outside the team’s immediate community Were they creative, was it relevant to the project.

ROBOT DESIGN NEW! Practice table will be available in the judging room Ask team to demonstrate robot Look for robustness of robot Manipulators easy to change Design process documentation? Ask for printout of code Look for comments, use of Myblocks Were sensors used for a specific intent? If used for line following, does the team have a mission that includes line following?

ROBOT DESIGN Mechanical Design Is the design simple and sturdy Are the manipulators designed so they can be changed quickly Look for sensors and other methods to validate position on the field Back into walls to “square up” the robot Programming Ask for a print out of the code Is the code commented Did team use Myblocks? Did the team use sensors Strategy and Innovation Are game analysis and strategy discussions documented? How were missions selected? Look for documentation of the robot design process, why they used sensors, size of wheel they selected, how manipulators were designed.

DELIBERATIONS Follow the direction of the Judge Advisor There are no wrong conclusions Within your judging area (Design, Project, Core Values) sort your teams from lowest to highest. Debate among your fellow judges Use your notes Advocate for your teams, stick to the facts Judging areas come together, list top 6-8 teams in their area

FINAL DELIBERATIONS Champions Must be in the top 40% of performance scores Must rank high in all categories Will advance to Championship Spread the wealth, one judged award per team After Champions are selected, identify award winners in each category Don’t forget to select a team for judges award Typically a team that does well in a category but is not selected for an award Avoid awarding teams for hardship stories. Select advancing teams Usually the competition winner and champions advance Advancing teams do not have to be award winners Typically you want to advance the strongest, well-balanced teams 20-25% of teams advance, check with tournament director or judge advisor.

THANKS FOR BEING HERE