whitebox nationals overview - whitebox learning · whitebox nationals is an exciting new way for...
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©2019FlinnScientific,Inc.AllRightsreserved.
WhiteBox Nationals (Game Mode)
What is WhiteBox Nationals? WhiteBoxNationalsisanexcitingnewwayforstudentstointeractwithWhiteBoxLearningSTEMapplications.Inourtraditionalclassroomsetup,theteacherselectsaspecification(asetofengineeringrequirements)fortheentireclass.Studentscreatedesignsforthisspecificationonly,unlesstheteacherchangestoanewspecmanually.InWhiteBoxNationals,individualstudentsautomaticallymovethroughfiveincreasinglychallenginglevelsofcompetition.Tomoveupinlevel,studentsmustmeetorexceedrequiredlevelscoresbasedonquizandworksheetresults,numberofdesigniterations,anddesignperformance.
What’s the Benefit? TherearetwoprimarybenefitsofusingWhiteBoxNationals.
1) Research-Sincelevelscoresdepend(inpart)onquizscores,studentswillfindthattheyneedtoworkthroughtheresearchmaterialstoadvance.Furthermore,sincehigherlevelsrequirehigherquizscores,studentswillrecognizethattheywillbenefitfromamoreintensefocusonresearch.
2) Motivation-Whenstudentsonlycompetelocally,thesamestudentsoftendominatetheleaderboard(thisisparticularlytrueinlargerdistricts).Webelievethiscanbedemotivatingforboththestudentsthatmaketheleaderboard(theyfeelunchallenged)aswellasthosestudentsthatnevermaketheleaderboard(theyfeeldefeated).WhiteboxNationalsincentivizesallstudentstokeepimproving.• Moreadvancedstudentswillautomaticallymoveintonewcompetitionsagainstsimilarly
accomplishedstudentsfromotherdistricts,states,andeveninternationally.Level5competitionswillconsistofhighlyaccomplishedstudentsfromallovertheworld.
• Whenstudentsadvance,theyareremovedfrompreviouslevelcompetitions.Thismeansthatstudentsthatotherwisewouldnotmaketheleaderboardwillultimatelymoveintothesepositions.Notallstudentswillmakeittothemostadvancedlevels,butwebelievethatallstudentswillexperienceagreatersenseofaccomplishment.
How Do I Get Started? EnablingWhiteBoxNationalsisveryeasy–infact,it’sthedefaultoptionforapplicationsthatsupportit.Whenaddinganactivityforyourclassroom,justclickthe“WhiteBoxNationals”checkbox.
©2019FlinnScientific,Inc.AllRightsreserved.
ExitingWhiteBoxNationals(whetheryoupreferthetraditionalsetup,orwhenit’stimetodesignforyourphysicalbuild)iseveneasier.Besideeachactivity,totherightoftheEditandDeletebuttons,you’llseeadedicatedbuttontoquicklyexitWhiteBoxNationalsandstartthebuildphase:
Youcanalsode-selectthecheckboxforWhiteBoxNationalsontheEditactivityform.WerecommendstudentslogoutandloginagainafterswitchingbetweentraditionalandWhiteBoxNationalsmodes.
What Differences Will Students See? IfyouarealreadyfamiliarwithaWhiteBoxLearningapplicationthingswilllooklargelythesame,withtheadditionofthestudent’scurrentlevelandaminiprogressbarinthetopmenu.WhenstudentsarejustgettingstartedonLevel1they’llalsoseeanotificationthatWhiteBoxNationalshasbeenenabled.
©2019FlinnScientific,Inc.AllRightsreserved.
ClickingtheLevelindicatorwillopentheWhiteBoxNationalsinfobox.Again,whenfirstgettingstarted,studentswillseeamoredetailedintroduction.
©2019FlinnScientific,Inc.AllRightsreserved.
AfterclickingtheGetStartedbutton,studentswillseetheircurrentprogresswithindividualprogressmetersforGrades,DesignIterations,andDesignPerformance.
How to Progress Through Levels Studentscanearnupto250pointsperlevel.TheGradesComponentprovidesupto100possiblepointsandisbasedoffthetotalpossibleaverageforallgradedlessons.Forexample,ifthereare3quizzesand2worksheets(allweightedthesame)andastudenthasscored90%oneachlesson,thestudentwillearn90pointsforthegradescomponent.TheIterationsComponentisworthupto50points.Eachin-
©2019FlinnScientific,Inc.AllRightsreserved.
specdesigniterationthatissavedandtestedwillearn5points.Toearnthefull50pointsforthiscomponent,studentswouldneedtosave10designiterations.However,manystudentsmaynotneedtorevisetheirdesign10timestoreachahighenoughtotalscoresincethePerformanceComponentisworthupto100points.Theperformancescoreisautomaticallycalculatedbycomparingastudent’sdesignwithabenchmarkforthelevel.Inotherwords,ifadesignachieves85%ofthebestpossibleoutcome(i.e.racetime,capacity,etc.)thestudentwillearnascoreof85.
Somelevelswillhaveindividualsectionrequirements.Forexample,inthescenarioabovestudentsmustscoreatleast180pointscombinedfromallthreecategories,andatleast25outofapossible50pointsintheDesignIterationscategory.The180-pointminimumtotalscorehasbeenmet,butthestudenthasonlycreatedthreeiterationsworthfivepointseach,sotwomoreiterationsareneededtomeettheiterationscomponentrequirement.
Whileiterationsandperformancescoresresetafterleveling-up,gradesscoresarecarriedoverfromleveltolevel.SincegradescoresaresuchanimportantpartofWhiteBoxNationalsandastudent’sopportunitytoadvance,studentscanretakeaquizorworksheettoimprovetheirscore.Whenquizresultsaredisplayedandthequizscoreislessthan100%,studentswillseeaRetakebutton:
Consideringthatquizzesandworksheetsareinteractiveandexplainthesolution,evenafteransweringthequestionincorrectly,asecondattemptwillresultintakingaconceptuallysimilarquizwithdifferentquestionsthatcoverthesamematerial.Studentsarelimitedtooneretake,sobesuretore-readthematerialandhaveaclearunderstandingbeforetryingagain!Ideallystudentswillcarefullyreadthroughalltheresearchmaterialsbeforetryingtoadvanceinlevels,buthigherlevelswillenforcethisbyrequiringaminimumtotallevelscorethatwillinherentlyneedallquizzesandworksheettobecompletedtoearnahighenoughgradesscore.
What’s the Endgame? HardworkingstudentswhomakeittoLevel5willqualifyforanationalcompetitionbasedontheirtotaldesignperformancescoresfromall5levels.They’llfirstwanttoscoreashighaspossibleontheLevel5challengebutmayalsogobacktoanylevelandmakeimprovementstotheirdesignsandaimforthefull
©2019FlinnScientific,Inc.AllRightsreserved.
100pointsfromtheperformancecomponentscore.Level5studentscanjumptoandfromanylevelbyclickingthe“GotoLevel”buttonsontheWhiteBoxNationalsdetailscreen.
NotallstudentswillmakeittoLevel5,buttheyshouldkeepworkingonimprovingdesignsandunderstandingtheresearchmaterialasbestaspossible.Allstudentswillputtheirknowledgetothetestwhenit’stimetoexitWhiteBoxNationalsandstartthebuildphase.
What Differences Will the Teacher See? YourTeacherControlCenterwilllookverysimilartothetraditionalmanuallyselectedspecificationmode.Ontheclassroomprogresspage(fromtheMonitortab),you’llseetheprogresschartsthatarepresentintraditionalmode,andyou’llalsoseeatablewithstudentsgroupedbycurrentlevel.Thetableshowseachstudent’scurrentlevel,scoresforthegrades,iterations,andperformancecomponentsforthelevel,andthetimesincethestudentwaslastactiveinWhiteBoxNationals.Theprogressbars
©2019FlinnScientific,Inc.AllRightsreserved.
arecolorcodedtoindicateprogresstowardslevelrequirementsandshowaverticalbartoindicatetherequiredtotalpointsforthestudent’scurrentlevel.
Youcanalsoclickthe“showdetailedview”linkforamoredetailedtablethatshowseachstudent’sindividuallevelscores.
Theindividualstudentdetailpagealsoshowscurrentlevelprogressandlevelhistoryinformation,inadditiontothenormalinformationdisplayedonthispageintraditionalmode.