Home Writing and Sketching Catch-up ✍️
Because Thursday’s assignment lesson has been taken by the athletics carnival, Lesson 8 is now a home-based portfolio catch-up lesson.
You do not have access to the rover at home. This means today is for writing, checking and sketching only.
Today’s goal
Complete the writing and sketching parts of your Engineering Portfolio Starter Pack so the booklet is ready for submission at the end of Friday’s lesson.
Important update
You now need at least 7 completed engineering entries, not 8. Friday is the final booklet completion day. Tuesday is purely for testing.
1. Complete these Starter Pack pages before Friday
These pages can be completed at home because they are writing, planning or sketching pages. Use what you already know from class. The aim is to have the booklet almost ready before Friday, then use Friday to finish anything that depends on the final build.
| Starter Pack page | What to complete |
|---|---|
| Page 1: Cover page | Complete your name, student number, class, partner name and teacher. |
| Page 4: Engineering entry progress tracker | Update the tracker for your completed engineering entries. You now need at least 7 completed entries. |
| Page 5: The engineering challenge | Complete My first thoughts about the challenge. Explain what the rover must do and what you think will make the challenge difficult. |
| Page 6: Group members and roles | Complete group members, responsibilities and any role changes or responsibility notes. |
| Page 7: Rover research and inspiration | Complete at least two rover examples. Include the rover, feature observed, what the feature does, how it could help your VEX rover, and sources used. |
| Page 8: Design brief breakdown | Complete all four sections: what the rover must do, what makes it difficult, what needs careful design, and what needs testing. |
| Page 9: Prescribed criteria | Complete the table for mobility, object interaction, durability, component protection, testing and improvement, and documentation. For each one, write what your rover needs to do and how your group could test it. |
| Page 10: Self-determined criteria | Complete your group’s extra criteria. These must be things you can test or check, such as stability, turning accuracy, repeatability, ease of control, object interaction success rate or cable management. |
| Page 11: Initial design sketch - top view | Complete or improve your top-view sketch. Label drivetrain, object mechanism, VEX brain, battery, motors, sensors, cables and protected components. |
| Page 12: Initial design sketch - side/front view | Complete or improve your side or front view sketch. Use this page to show height, object mechanism position or parts hidden in the top view. |
| Page 13: Initial design explanation | Explain how the rover is intended to move, how it will interact with objects, which components need protection, and which design choices help it meet the project requirements. |
| Page 14: Required testing overview | Complete the general testing notes. Write which tests have already started and which tests still need to happen on Friday. |
| Page 21: High-quality sketch - initial design | Complete a careful labelled sketch of your initial or current design. This should be neater and more detailed than your rough design sketches. |
| Page 26: Individual contribution reflection | Complete the reflection using your own contribution. Write your main contributions, one problem you helped solve, one design decision you contributed to, one skill you improved, and one part of the rover, code or testing you can explain. |
2. Only complete these test pages if you have real class evidence
You may only fill in test results that were actually collected in class. If a test has not happened yet, write: Needs to be tested on Friday.
| Test page | What to do |
|---|---|
| Page 15: Straight-line movement test | Only fill this in if your group actually tested straight-line movement in class. |
| Page 16: Turning test | Only fill this in if your group actually tested turning in class. |
| Page 17: Object interaction test | Only fill this in for actions your group actually tested in class: collect, push, lift, carry and transport. |
3. Pages that depend on Friday’s final build
These pages should be finished by the end of Friday’s lesson. Do the thinking now, but only write final results once the rover evidence is real.
Reliability test
Complete on Friday if the repeated test is done.
Durability test
Complete on Friday after repeated use.
Sensor/control test
Complete on Friday if sensors or control code are used.
High-quality sketch - final design
Finish after final build changes.
Final design summary
Finish after final design is known.
Final evaluation - prescribed criteria
Complete using real test evidence.
Final evaluation - self-determined criteria
Complete using real test evidence.
Final submission checklist
Use on Friday before handing in.
4. Friday submission readiness check
Before Friday, make sure your portfolio is ready for final build evidence and submission.
Important rule
If something was not tested in class, write Needs to be tested on Friday. Honest missing evidence is better than invented evidence. Tuesday is purely for testing, so do not leave general booklet writing until Tuesday.