The VEX AIM Intro Course concludes with a Capstone Challenge. This challenge uses a classroom competition to help bring excitement, motivation, and creativity to your learning environment in a new way. This enables you and your students to celebrate their learning from throughout the course as they show off their skills. This article will cover considerations for facilitating before, during, and after the Capstone Challenge.
Before the Capstone Begins
To preparing for the Capstone it is helpful to consider how you will frame your experience and the experience of your students. Thinking about things like how much class time you will devote to the challenge, how you will keep track of scores, and the way your classroom is set up for the challenge ahead of time can help make the challenge smoother for everyone.
Determine the Schedule
Classroom competitions can be organized to fill any time requirements that you have. There is always a way for students to continue to improve their scores, so you can always extend the challenge as needed.
Ideally, students have multiple opportunities to compete in both Driver Control and Autonomous runs so that they can learn from those runs and apply that learning to their iterations. Giving more time for the challenge enables students to take their learning further, try different strategies, and iterate to improve their score with each additional trial opportunity.
Below are three possible schedules for how long the Capstone could take. Adapt these as needed to fit your classroom.
1 Week Schedule
Groups would have 1 chance to compete for Autonomous and 1 chance to compete for Driver Control with this schedule and limited chances to iterate on their strategies.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 |
|
Prepare for the Capstone Brainstorm –Driver Control |
Plan and Test – Driver Control |
Compete – Driver Control Brainstorm and Plan – Autonomous |
Test and Compete – Autonomous | Reflect on the Capstone and Course |
2 Week Schedule
Groups would have 2 chances to compete for Autonomous and 2 chances to compete for Driver Control with this schedule.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 |
|
Prepare for the Capstone Brainstorm –Driver Control |
Plan and Test – Driver Control | Test and Compete – Driver Control (1) | Test and Compete – Driver Control (2) | Brainstorm – Autonomous |
| Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 |
| Plan and Test – Autonomous | Test and Compete – Autonomous (1) | Test and Compete – Autonomous (2) | Reflect on the Capstone Challenge | Course Reflection |
3 Week Schedule
Groups would have many chances to compete for both Autonomous and Driver Control with this schedule. Then they would be able to take their highest score from those competitions.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 |
|
Prepare for the Capstone Brainstorm –Driver Control |
Plan and Test – Driver Control | Test and Compete – Driver Control (1) | Plan and Test – Driver Control | Test and Compete – Driver Control (2) |
| Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 |
| Test and Compete – Driver Control (3) | Brainstorm and Plan – Autonomous | Plan and Test – Autonomous | Test and Compete – Autonomous (1) | Plan and Test – Autonomous |
| Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 |
| Test and Compete – Autonomous (2) | Plan and Test – Autonomous | Test and Compete – Autonomous (3) | Reflect on the Capstone Challenge | Course Reflection |
Create a Leaderboard
Post or project group names on the board in your classroom, and give space for students to write in points for both Autonomous and Driver Control, and their total scores. This visible record of runs can provide motivation for students as they continue to iterate, as well as give them an idea of other teams to scout as they develop strategies.
Set Up Your Space for Competition
Decide if the timed runs will take place at the fields where students are practicing or if those runs will happen at a centralized location. Ensure that the field(s) that will be used for the official timed runs are all equipped with a timer and any materials needed to facilitate the competition run like the AprilTag IDs, cargo, and a covered container for the cargo.
During the Capstone Challenge
Create Shared Expectations
To ensure that you and your students have shared expectations for the flow of the competition, follow these steps to show students how the competition will take place in your setting:
- Identify where the runs will occur and who will be timing those runs.
- Identify the number of trials each group will complete (both for Autonomous and Driver Control).
- Demonstrate how you will keep time – show students what to look or listen for at the start or end of the run.
- Demonstrate how you will record that time to keep score.
- Model how to setup the robots and materials to start each trial competition.
- Answer any questions that students have about the competition organization.
Encourage Conversation and Iteration
Your main job throughout the Capstone Challenge is to help students move between phases as needed. Students have a tendency to move too quickly through a competition in order to get to that final run. The phases in the Capstone are built to give groups a structure that helps them slow down and think critically about their progress and strategy. Use the following reminders to help students continue to evaluate their progress:
- Remind students to document their code iterations and strategies in their journal. If students are struggling with recording code iterations or driving strategies, you can have them use the Share function in VEXcode to create a PDF of their code and add it to their journal. See this article to learn more about the Share option in VEXcode.
- Remind students to work collaboratively within and among groups. While groups are all trying to earn a high score, students can continuously learn from one another. Reinforce that the classroom is collaborative environment. Other groups can and should be used as a resource throughout the competition to investigate strategy ideas or help problem solve.
- Remind students of expectations for respectful interactions. Competitions can bring out big emotions, both positive and negative. Encourage students to take breaks as needed and help to support their self-regulation skills and strategies. Instead of talking about “winning” and “losing” in black and white terms, try focusing on the challenge process and continue to build upon your positive classroom environment, using words like: opportunity, growth, learning, and effort instead.
After the Competition
Celebrate Learning with Wrap-Up Discussions
This competition is a culmination of learning and experiences throughout the course. The reflections on the final page of the Capstone emphasize many of the ways students have progressed and grown. You can continue to emphasizes this learning and growth through other celebrations through awards beyond just the top scores on the leaderboard.
Award ideas could include:
- Excellence Award – Given to the group that shows excellence in all facets of the competition including score, collaboration, documentation, and persistence.
- Best Driver – Given to the group with the top Driver Control score.
- Best Coder - Given to the group with the top Autonomous score.
- Most Improved Award - Given to the group with the most improved scores over the course of the challenge.
- Most Collaborative - Given to the group who demonstrated exemplary collaboration skills.
- Penguin Award - Given to the group who took the biggest risk in their strategy.
- Most Helpful - Given to a group who helped other groups iterate and improve.
- Creative Coder Award - Given to the group with the most expressive robot in the challenge (ie. incorporated LEDs, emojis, etc).
- Spirit Award - Given to the group who demonstrated positivity, perseverance, and persistence.
You may want to include other awards, or have students come up with awards and award criteria. Having awards beyond just the top total scores helps to reinforce the idea that the competition is about more than just scoring points, and can help keep students engaged and motivated throughout.
Beyond these awards, you can also share certificates with all students to celebrate their completion of the VEX AIM Intro Course.