Download - WhiteBox Nationals Overview - WhiteBox Learning · WhiteBox Nationals is an exciting new way for students to interact with WhiteBox Learning STEM applications. In our traditional

©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.

www.whiteboxlearning.com


ExitingWhiteBoxNationals(whetheryoupreferthetraditionalsetup,orwhenit’stimetodesignforyourphysicalbuild)iseveneasier.Besideeachactivity,totherightoftheEditandDeletebuttons,you’llseeadedicatedbuttontoquicklyexitWhiteBoxNationalsandstartthebuildphase:

Youcanalsode-selectthecheckboxforWhiteBoxNationalsontheEditactivityform.WerecommendstudentslogoutandloginagainafterswitchingbetweentraditionalandWhiteBoxNationalsmodes.

What Differences Will Students See? IfyouarealreadyfamiliarwithaWhiteBoxLearningapplicationthingswilllooklargelythesame,withtheadditionofthestudent’scurrentlevelandaminiprogressbarinthetopmenu.WhenstudentsarejustgettingstartedonLevel1they’llalsoseeanotificationthatWhiteBoxNationalshasbeenenabled.



ClickingtheLevelindicatorwillopentheWhiteBoxNationalsinfobox.Again,whenfirstgettingstarted,studentswillseeamoredetailedintroduction.



AfterclickingtheGetStartedbutton,studentswillseetheircurrentprogresswithindividualprogressmetersforGrades,DesignIterations,andDesignPerformance.

How to Progress Through Levels Studentscanearnupto250pointsperlevel.TheGradesComponentprovidesupto100possiblepointsandisbasedoffthetotalpossibleaverageforallgradedlessons.Forexample,ifthereare3quizzesand2worksheets(allweightedthesame)andastudenthasscored90%oneachlesson,thestudentwillearn90pointsforthegradescomponent.TheIterationsComponentisworthupto50points.Eachin-



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



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



arecolorcodedtoindicateprogresstowardslevelrequirementsandshowaverticalbartoindicatetherequiredtotalpointsforthestudent’scurrentlevel.

Youcanalsoclickthe“showdetailedview”linkforamoredetailedtablethatshowseachstudent’sindividuallevelscores.

Theindividualstudentdetailpagealsoshowscurrentlevelprogressandlevelhistoryinformation,inadditiontothenormalinformationdisplayedonthispageintraditionalmode.
