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Applications Open for 2019-2020 Wonder Squad

Aug 15, 2019

Applications Open for 2019-2020 Wonder Squad

We are excited to launch the 2019-2020 application to join the Wonder Squad, Wonder Workshop’s ambassador program. Being an ambassador isn’t just about posting something every now and then – we are looking for active members within the Wonder Workshop community who love making a difference students, schools, and districts throughout the world!

The Wonder Squad is a community of educators recognized for doing amazing things to bring coding and robotics into school classrooms. They are fearless about embracing new ideas and forging their own path to inspire students in their classroom and beyond. For the 2019-2020 school year, Wonder Workshop is looking for exceptional educators to advise us in our product development process and share their expertise with educators around the world. Dedication to education, computer science, technology integration, and robotics are all important factors when searching for our next team of change-makers.

Term:
October 2019 – October 2020

Perks and benefits:
-Special ambassador SWAG
-Exclusive media opportunities
-A feature on the Wonder Workshop website, newsletter, and blog as leaders and change-makers in education
-First access to new features and products, and opportunities to provide input on future product features.
-Access to an exclusive, amazing community of fellow Wonder Squad members.
-Opportunities to represent Wonder Workshop at conferences and events.
-Special Wonder Squad events at major conferences.
-An exclusive up to 20% valued discount for your district on Wonder Workshop products during the 2019-2020 school year. **Terms and Conditions Apply**
-Input to make the program more awesome for current and future Wonder Squad members!

Who can apply?
-Classroom teachers, administrators, district specialists, librarians, etc.
-Homeschool parents
-Education consultants (must currently be active sharing Wonder Workshop products)
-College instructors

Where can I be from?
-You are eligible if you are in a location where Wonder Workshop is officially sold and distributed

What we’re looking for:
-Must have experience with using Dash, Dot and Cue authentically in the classroom in multiple curricular areas. You have been using our robots for at least 1 year in your classroom/Experience implementing our robots into classrooms throughout your school or district.
-Innovative lesson ideas. You have created multiple lessons of your own for our robots, showing an understanding in lesson plan construction, organization, and alignment of necessary standards.
-Presentation skills. You are seen as a leader in your district and may even have experience presenting about your work at local and national conferences.
-Participation in educator communities. You proactively connect with other teachers to share ideas on social media, local events, and other professional learning networks.

Requirements:
-1-year position – Once you complete the year you can continue to participate in the Wonder Ambassador community on Facebook for life!
-Continued use of Dash, Dot and Cue throughout the year.
-Submit at minimum of 3 lesson plans each year to add to our growing library of community submitted lessons.
-Active participation in the Wonder Squad community group on Facebook, and serve as moderators to the Global Ambassador Community group.
-Willingness to respond to media interview requests.
-Willingness to help teachers and schools in your region implement Dash, Dot and Cue authentically into the classroom, through connections from Wonder Workshop.
-Interest in presenting at conferences of all sizes.
– A minimum of 1 blog articles per year
-Being present to help moderate or present a minimum of 1 Webinar, or Facebook Live event.

The application process has been extended and ends on September 15, 2019 September 30, 2019 and announcements for this year’s Wonder Squad will go out in early October. We look forward to you applying and joining us!

Bryan L. Miller
Director of Strategic Education Outreach
Wonder Workshop

Questions – please email bryan@makewonder.com Subject: ATTN: Wonder Squad Questions

Applications are now closed - Please consider applying next year

Wonder League Robotics Competition FAQ | Year 8

Hello, robotics enthusiasts! If you’re here, you’re probably as excited as we are about the 8th Annual Wonder League Robotics Competition! To help you and your teams have the best possible experience competing this year, we wanted to share answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Who Can Compete:

Any kid, anywhere in the world, ages 6-8 (Innovator Cup) and 9-12 (Pioneer Cup). There are two age brackets: 6-8 and 9-12 and team members have to fall within the age category at some point during the competition. Participants must be the qualifying age for their bracket on the last day of the competition, but if they gain a year during the competition, that’s OK. They won’t age out! 

Competition Brackets:

  • Innovator Cup (Age 6-8)
  • Pioneer Cup (Age 9-12)

What Makes a Team:

A team is made up of a supervising adult coach, and one or more children (up to 5). That’s right, kids can compete solo, but a coach who is 18+ is needed to help with the submission process. For multi-kid teams, each member must be in the same age bracket. Coaches may have multiple teams and can register all their teams after registering as a coach. Please keep in mind that each team will need a separate Class Connect registration.

Note: Younger students may participate in the 9-12 age category, but please be aware that the missions have been designed with older students and advanced coding skills in mind.

What a Team Needs to Compete:

Class Connect subscription

The team is made up of a supervising adult coach and one to five members

  1. Compatible device
  2. 5′ x 8′ mat of 30cm squares and basic prototyping materials
  3. Teams in 6-8 & 9-12 age brackets will need a Dash robot
  4. Internet access to download and upload materials

Teams will need one Dash robot: https://store.makewonder.com/products/dash

Check Device Compatibility here: https://www.makewonder.com/compatibility

We will be offering a mat image that you are welcome to use and print with your local printer, but teams are absolutely encouraged to make their own if they prefer. For more on how to make your own mat, check out this blog post.

Coaches will, of course, need internet access to download the apps and keep up with the competition as it progresses, and may want to print out some kid-facing materials that we will provide at each stage.

Class Connect Subscription:

To register for the 8th Wonder League Robotics Competition requires a subscription to Class Connect, providing additional resources like standards-aligned content assignable right inside a student’s Blockly app. Learn more about Class Connect here.

If you already have a Class Connect subscription, you have access to register a team, based on your student license amount. If you have more than one team of 5 students, you will need to purchase another Coach Success Pack or consider a larger subscription to accommodate more teams and students.

  1. A Coach Success Pack provides:
    Participation in the WLRC for up to 5 students
    Access to all Missions
    Full access to Class Connect, (including Math Activities and Dash’s Neighborhood), for 5 students and 1 teacher for 7 months
    A discount code for a Dash robot from our online store at https://store.makewonder.com

Please note: Teams will need a physical Dash robot to complete the Missions.
The Coaches’ Dashboard in Class Connect will help our coaches register and manage their team(s). The dashboard will be your one-stop shop for all Wonder League Robotics Competition management. You will be able to access the Coaches’ Corner–where all competition-related content and resources will be hosted–the Heartbeat community forum, and all the submission forms right there on the Dashboard.

Accessing Missions for the Innovator Cup and Pioneer Cup:

Once your purchase is completed for Class Connect, you will receive an email to activate your Class Connect license.

Once this license is activated, you will be able to register yourself as a coach and register your teams. This is done on your portal page under the Robotics Competition tab.

Once your team/teams are registered, you will get an additional email from CoAssemble, our partner hosting the missions this year. This email will state you have been registered for the “2022-2023 Coaches Corner Course”.

Click on the link to be redirected to the CoAssemble website, and you will see the course and can access the Coaches’ Corner Guide as well as the Missions (available November 3, 2022).

Still having trouble accessing all the resources in the Coaches’ Corner? If you have previously had a license to Class Connect and registered as a coach, and have not seen Coaches’ Corner added to your CoAssemble list of courses, please email us at support@makewonder.com, and we will provide assistance.

Last Year’s Missions:

Taking a peek at last year’s missions might help you get a sense of what the competition is like. Just sign in with your Class Connect subscription and register as a coach to take a peek at the previous years by going to the Coaches’ Corner and selecting the desired year.

2022-23 Wonder League Robotics Competition Milestone Dates:

Here are important milestone dates to keep in mind as coaches develop timelines for teams competing in the 2022-23 Wonder League Robotics Competition.

 

  1. October 21, 2022: Student Team Registration Opens
  2. November 3, 2022: Round One Opens + Five Mission Released
  3. January 13, 2023: Student Team Registration Closes
  4. January 27, 2023: Mission Evidence Submission Closes 
  5. January 28-March 5, 2023: Invitational Round Notification 
  6. February 6, 2023: Invitational Round Opens + Final Mission Released
  7. March 24, 2023: Invitational Round Submission Due 
  8. April 10, 2023: People’s Choice Voting Opens 
  9. April 21, 2023: People’s Choice Voting Closes 
  10. May 4, 2023: 2022-23 Wonder League Robotics Competition Winner Announcement

NEW Award Category: WLRC People’s Choice Award

Teams may opt in to participate in the WLRC People’s Choice Award category by creating a :30 second video explaining the Team’s Invitational Round Final Mission solution that will be shared with the community at www.makewonder.com/classroom/robotics-competition/ in an “online crowd vote” competition. The WLRC People’s Choice Award allows teams to share and celebrate their work in the WLRC and encourage community support in voting for their team. This is an optional category for teams to enter and will not impact scoring of the Invitational Round submission as they will be judged by STEM and Coding experts using a published rubric.

Children’s Privacy:

We take our participants’ privacy very seriously and comply with COPPA when collecting any information. In the invitational round we ask only for the students’ first names, and request parents’ permission. For those that make it into the Invitational Round, we ask for full names, again with permission. We are never marketing, selling to, or corresponding with children. All contact is through the proxy of the coach.