The leaderboard is up. The data dashboard is live. Frustration is productive here — it means students care. Your job is not to prevent frustration but to route it through evidence.
Week 1 was exploration. Week 2 is consequence. Stats are no longer abstract — they determine match outcomes. Students who allocated carelessly in Week 1 are about to feel it. That friction is the learning.
Run the 3-step script on every losing team after every match, starting Day 7. Practice the script before Day 7 until it is automatic. The first time you run it is not the moment to figure out the words.
No team starts their next match without a prediction logged for the current one. Circulate before each match to verify. Predictions only help if they are logged before the result. This is the week that habit either forms or doesn't.
Not every team will maintain pristine data quality during live competition. That is expected. The minimum required for a dashboard row to count:
If a team hits all three, the dashboard is working. Do not let perfect data hygiene become a source of facilitator anxiety on match days.
One change at a time.
Under competition pressure, students will change everything at once. They cannot identify cause if they do. Hold this line during every simulation and every match day.Students have calculated each formula in isolation. Today they combine them under a constraint. The cognitive load is higher than any previous day. Expect more requests for help. Redirect to the reference card rather than the answer: "What does the formula on your card say?" is enough in most cases.
The Analyst role degrades fast if you don't guard it. Watch for:
Analyst role integrity matters more than speed. If predictions are being logged without team discussion, slow the team down, not just the Analyst.
LO 1.1: all four stat-to-formula pairs applied · LO 1.2: all four formula calculations correct across three loadout options · LO 5.1: data dashboard with first simulation entries
Day 6 is when this misconception first appears in allocation work. A team changing Speed from 4 to 6 has made a 50% change in the stat, but only a 10-percentage-point change in motor power. Students conflate these. Correct it once, clearly, with numbers: "The stat went up 50%. The motor power output went from 20% to 30% — that's a 10-point increase but a 50% change. These are different things." Post the sentence starter for Describing a Calculation before this activity.
LO 1.2: all four stat calculations on allocation sheet, 100% accuracy · LO 2.2: Endurance decay equation derived from allocation · LO 6.1: MakeCode motor command verified against proportional calculation
Match days never run on ideal timing. When you fall behind, be deliberate about what stays and what goes.
Facilitators who skip the structures above during time pressure are skipping exactly what makes the day work. Cut around the protocol, not through it.
Many teams emotionally overreact to the first real loss. This is normal. The recovery process matters more than the loss itself. A team that doesn't get structured recovery after this loss often stops engaging with their data for the rest of the program. Run the 3-step protocol before you do anything else — before updating the leaderboard, before moving to the next match.
One change at a time.
Students under competition pressure will change everything at once. You cannot identify cause when they do. Remind this every match.The leaderboard creates pressure that goes beyond frustration. Watch for these specific patterns:
When you see any of these, redirect attention away from rank and toward: prediction accuracy, revision quality, evidence use, improvement trends. Wins are one signal. They are not the only one.
Competition affects adults too. Your nervous system escalates with the room. Watch yourself for:
If you notice any of these, slow down deliberately. The room will follow.
During Open Lab, you are working. Specifically:
Loud does not mean healthy. Intervene on unhealthy escalation quickly — it hardens fast.
If the day is overwhelming, this is enough:
That is a complete match day. Everything else is a bonus.
LO 2.2: Endurance decay equation in slope-intercept form, x-intercept calculated · LO 5.1: data dashboard complete after first real matches · LO 7.1: prediction logged before match, actual recorded after
Same rules as Day 7. When behind, cut around the protocol, not through it.
One change at a time.
This is the second match day. The pressure to change everything doubles. Hold this line harder than yesterday.A card that doesn't cite a specific number is not a Rivalry Card. "Your bot is slow" is not data-backed trash talk. "Your Speed = 2 means 10% motor power — we run at 35%" is. Enforce the rule publicly: if a card goes up without a stat citation, take it down and hand it back. The whole room sees this and adjusts.
Also enforce scope: Rivalry Cards target strategy and stats. Not personality, appearance, intelligence, or identity. If a card crosses that line, remove it without drama and restate the rule once.
Match day is when the Analyst role collapses fastest. When stakes are high, teams default to whoever speaks loudest. Watch for:
If you see it, pause the team: "Has the Analyst confirmed the prediction?" That one question resets the structure.
Students adding stat improvements ("if we raise Speed by 2 AND Endurance by 2, we'll be twice as good") instead of recognizing that the constraint makes every addition a trade-off. Correction: "You have 20 points. Where do the 2 extra Speed points come from?" Then let them work through the consequence.
If the day is overwhelming, this is enough:
Scatter plots, rivalry cards, and extended debrief are all bonus. Do not sacrifice the core for them.
LO 2.3: scatter plot of Speed vs. Goals Scored with equation from two data points · LO 5.2: scatter plot built from dashboard data, labeled · LO 7.1: equation-based prediction logged before match