More Than Just Programming

in robotics •  7 years ago 

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Previously in my blog I mentioned a mentor a couple FTC (https://steemit.com/computerscience/@rantar/computer-science-volunteering-first-robotics) teams in my town. I use my programming expertise to help them write better code for their robots. The initial design of the logic, then finally the debugging of the logic it the two areas I help out the most. A couple of weeks ago was their league championship. One of the two teams advanced to the next level, which was very exciting. The competition gets a lot tougher up there, so we'll see how they do, but I'll be there rooting for them.

The process didn't seem to go that smoothly this year, so I've started to think about ways I could help. Then I realized I have other skills that I could share outside of just programming. Projects of all size need management and organization, both of which I do in a professional capacity. High school teaches one a lot of book knowledge, but never really touches on some of these practical skill sets as much as needed for the business world.

The students tend to work hard with a directed task, but then tend to spin in place without strong direction. This year the leaders did not step up strong, so better organization might have helped their productivity. I should be able to suggest tools and techniques that can help them keep on task and be more productive. I will have to think about how to organize my recommendations. Just like with tracking tasks, they have had trouble documenting their work. Very few people enjoy documentation, but the Engineering notebook is a big part of judging and I hope I can guide them with techniques to document their work more effectively.

Let me know in comments if there are any tricks to teaching teenagers better organizational skills, I am going to need them!

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thanks for sharing

I remind my students all the time that it's the other skills - what they think are the "soft" skills - that will make the difference. That's why I require they write about their work.

I don't know if I have any "tricks" to teaching them organizational skills, but when I notice a student has some leadership skills, I find a way to have them help manage other students. I think it helps to see others their own age organize things and I think they pick up on the skill. When I don't see someone like that, I think just managing a project for them and showing them how I do it goes a long way too.

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