Mr. Soule came for two days after the competition to debrief and reflect with the kids. The overall feeling of the class was that it was fun, but disappointing. The first thing we did was to watch the slideshow from the day and for each student to write the strengths and weaknesses from the experience. It was time for a general sharing and for them all to listen to the experiences of others. We had 4 teams in 4 different places all the time, so this helped them learn about how others competed.
On Thursday, each team presented their powerpoint so that Mr. Soule could provide more feedback and again for each team to see what the others had done. We talked about ways to improve and what they learned. After that, all the teams met to go over their scores and then all that went on the board for each to see and for us to talk about. We noticed trends, strengths and weaknesses.
The Mars Rover Competition was such a valuable lesson in communication, planning and teamwork. It truly suited the learning of physics. The kids want to participate again.
