A
team is defined as 3 students from grades 7 and/or 8 who are from the same
school or from a home school environment, a teacher coach (any paid staff
member at a public/private/parochial school or home school), and an engineer mentor.
Like Nationals, the Ohio Region will only recognize those three students,
teacher coach, and engineer mentor. One team from a school will compete in the
model/presentation judging at the regional finals. The names of those team
members representing your school and attending the regional finals must be sent
to the Ohio Region in early January. See Important Dates tab on the home page.
So
what do you do if you have more than three students in your building interested
in the program?
Multiple Teams from
a.
Meet with all your teams and their
families to discuss the time involved (apx. 100 hours
per student). If it is not possible to gather your families, send a letter
home.
b.
Share the CD-ROM tutorial’s Program
Overview with the students and families if possible.
c.
Parents need to understand that
out-of-school meetings will be needed and space for the building of the model
may be needed.
d.
Students can self-select into teams of
three.
e.
Share that only one team will
represent the school at the regional
finals
in January.
f.
It is recommended that each team have
an engineer mentor for guidance but one engineer can serve as a mentor for
several teams. Discuss this with your engineer, students, and families.
g.
Teachers, parents, and engineer
mentors can advise but the students should complete the work.
Deciding which of your multiple teams goes to the Ohio Regional
Finals
A
good way to narrow down the selection of you representatives to the regional
finals
is to have a
building/classroom competition. See the teacher handbook for more details.
a. Be sure to send in your school's
items by the deadlines.
b.
A building contest can be held for all
of your possible teams.
c.
Since the first deadline is
mid-December, have the building contest prior to that date. See Important Dates
tab on the home page.
d.
Invite two to three engineers to serve
as judges. Administrators and curriculum coordinators also can serve as judges.
e.
Copy the Presentation/Model score
sheets from the teacher handbook for each of your judges, enough to judge all
the teams.
f.
The teacher should stay in the room
and keep time or even videotape the process for student feedback. Other team(s)
leaves the room.
g.
Allow each team to present their five
to seven minute presentations to the judges and allow eight-10 minutes of
questions from the judges.
h.
Collect the score sheets, add the
scores, and announce which team will go on to the regional finals.
i.
Give certificates to all participants.
(Teacher coaches can use the certificate template in the handbook or can ask
for an electronic template via e-mail from the Regional Coordinator.)
j.
Celebrate all the hard work!
Another
option is to have the teams present to each other and the teams can vote who
goes on to the regional
finals.
One School’s
Large Group or Classroom’s Collective Efforts
a.
Explain the four phases of the
competition and that it will be a group effort to complete the project.
b.
Allow students to self select (or the
teacher can select) which component the students will focus their energies,
i.e., five or so students working on essay research, three or so students
working on essay composition, etc.)
c.
Have those who have self-selected (or
been chosen by teacher or peers) to serve as the presenters practice in front
of adults, peers, and engineers if possible as these students will be speaking
with the judges at the regional
finals.
d.
National rules state that no more or
less than three students must be at the regional
finals.
e.
These three students, teacher coach,
and mentor engineer will be given any prizes at the competition. If selected as
the Ohio Region winner, these five individuals will move on to the National
Finals in
f.
Remember to select an engineer mentor
who will not mind working with many different students throughout the course of
the event or select more than one engineer mentor.
g.
Teachers, parents, and engineer
mentors can advise but the students should complete the work.
h.
Be
sure to send in your school's items by the deadlines.
i.
Give certificates to all participants.
(Teacher coaches can use the certificate template in the handbook or can ask
for an electronic template via e-mail from the Regional Coordinator.)
j. Celebrate all the hard work!