When a judging session starts, take a few moments to introduce yourself and welcome the team to their session. This will help to break the ice, and should help the children relax. You can ask the team where they are from, remind them about the amount of time they have, ask them for any materials they would like to present to you or any other method that makes them more comfortable.
If it is difficult to hear the children, or difficult to view their visual aids, please move closer to them to create a warmer environment. Also, whenever possible, address the children at eye level. An adult towering above a smaller child will only add to the intimidation the child may be feeling because of the stress of the situation.
Please show every team respect by remaining attentive during their presentations. Maintain eye contact where culturally acceptable. Turn off mobile phones and other devices which interrupt interaction. Refrain from eating during team presentations.
You will find that some children are talkative, while others are very shy. You may have to ask more questions of a team of introverts to arrive at the same information that a team of extroverts gave you voluntarily. Be prepared to re-word your questions if you find that the children are struggling to understand or answer. Try not to ask questions that allow the teams to answer with a yes or no, and encourage the teams to elaborate on their answers.
Be polite and respectful, but do not allow the coach to answer questions for the team. Take note when teams look to their coach for answers, and try to determine if the children know the answer and are just nervous, or if they’re looking to their coach to find out how to answer. Keep in mind that all judging should consider the age of the team members and maintain age-appropriate expectations.The children will be nervous. A tournament is a stressful experience. Asking them questions about their robot or their project can help to put them at ease. Try to ensure that each team leaves your judging room feeling positive about their performance in FLL.
Some teams will have clearly defined roles. Two children may program, two others are the robot drivers, and two others directed the project preparation. This is a completely acceptable team dynamic. You may find that not all of the children can answer all of the questions. All of the children should be able to tell you what their role on the team was, and what they did to contribute, as well as who can answer specific questions on the team if they cannot. If one or two children don’t answer any questions, target your questions to those children, and find out what they did during the season.
Don’t pre-judge team dynamics, or believe that there is only one right answer. Listen to the children carefully, and expect different levels of appropriate coach involvement based upon the age or maturity of the team members.
FLL provides a set of questions to ask during judging interviews. Review the questions carefully, keeping in mind that you cannot ask all of the questions during a ten-minute interview. Some teams will give you answers that cover multiple questions; others will give brief, targeted answers. Prepare the list of questions that you think will be most useful, and have back-up questions ready if you need them. You may choose to add your own questions to the list--just be sure to use the FLL supplied criteria (in the form of rubrics) to evaluate teams and determine award winners.
To help develop rubric comments and award scripts remember to take plenty of notes during judging sessions, and turn in your notes to the Judge Advisor at the end of the day. These notes are for you-- not the rubric comments you will provide to teams. Please do not take them home, as sometimes, questions about the judging deliberations process come up after the tournament.
Please be as specific as possible when gathering information and taking notes; these will help you during deliberations when you must present and discuss teams. The level of competition at this event demands attention to detail, especially when it comes to decision making for awards. Specific comments are much more helpful than overall impressions. Detailed reasons concerning a team’s suitability for an award are extremely important! The teams deserve a level of effort from the judges commensurate with what they have put in over the course of a season.
The teams have put forth a tremendous amount of effort over the course of their season to learn robotics, complete missions, develop teamwork skills, research and prepare their project presentation and develop an engineering design review to describe their robot. They deserve to be treated with respect and provided with worthwhile and appropriate recognition and evaluation of their accomplishments.
The goal is to compliment the children’s accomplishments with terms and phrases that are appropriate for the subject matter. If they have an innovative attachment that uses worm gears and provides a high amount of torque and good lifting strength, tell them that! That’s more constructive than “awesome arm!” If they designed their t-shirts to spread the message of FLL, tell them their choice of using their shirts to spread FLL Core Values is inspirational. Don’t just say, “cool shirts” or “they were so cute!”
Don’t limit yourself to these or hesitate to expand the student’s vocabulary with adult superlatives. The goal is to compliment the students’ accomplishments or cerebral prowess.
Some examples of appropriate comments are listed below to help guide your feedback to the teams. They are grouped by category and also include some general comments.
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General |
Example Core Values Comments |
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Effective leadership/problem solving/ troubleshooting Resourceful Keen observers Applied what you learned You should be proud of your accomplishments and yourselves Wonderfully focused Determined Accomplished well beyond your years Think “out-of-the-box” |
Understand contributions of all members Truly respect each other Demonstrate great partnership Great division of roles – Effective use of each other’s strengths Excellent relational skills Great personification of Gracious Professionalism Encouraged each other Pulled for the team Worked well under pressure |
|
Example Robot Design Comments |
Example Project Comments |
|
Good grasp of mechanical concepts Solid understanding of programming logic Creative or effective strategy Good understanding of KISS principle Innovative |
In-depth research Solid analysis Clear message and relevant presentation Good organization Genuinely understand subject matter Innovative and resourceful Very creative approach/presentation Enjoyable presentation Highly interesting |
Be sure to observe teams during setup, breakdown and throughout the day. A team’s actions during unguarded moments can tell you volumes, and give you even more information than the interview. Remember not to assume what you see in a particular situation, especially during non-interactive observation. Strive for clarity by interacting with the children as much as possible. Not only will the information you gather be more accurate, but the children will have the opportunity to interact with you in your job as role model. They also might find out that you are fun and approachable, and not a scary adult judge!
Keep an eye on your schedule. Every time your judging team falls behind a minute or two, the schedules for other judging sessions and robot rounds are affected. Just ten minutes can mean that all judging and robot performance rounds are off schedule, and can cause havoc with the schedule for the entire day.
© 2011 The United States Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST®) and The LEGO Group. Used by special permission. All rights reserved.