2013-2014 Washington State Regional
Future City Competition
TEACHER/MENTOR
ORIENTATION WORKSHOP
Fall, 2013
2013-2014 Washington State
Future City Competition
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Agenda
 Introductions
 Learning Blocks
 Role of Engineer, Teacher & Students
 Organizing your Future City Students
 Changes for this Year
 Regional Competition
 Schedule/Deliverables
 Competition Scoring
 Future City Overview
 Questions & Answers
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Future City Competition
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Washington State Future City
Committee
Karen Pavletich (Regional Coordinator)
Stephen Allen (Treasurer/Webmaster)
Leann Kostek (Sponsorship Coordinator)
Tanya Panomvana (Publicity)
Jens Nedrud/Katrina Alexander (Teacher/School Coordinators)
Curtis Lu (Mentor Coordinator)
Hannah Jimma (Competition Day Coordinator)
Jeanne Harshbarger (Judging Coordinator)
Josh (Awards/Prizes)
Louis Tibbs/Kassidy Warren/ (Scoring Co-Coordinator and SimCity
Program Resources)
 Franklin Lu/Del Johnson/Jenny Boyer/Ponet Neuansourinh (Membersat-Large)
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Future City Competition
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Can I do Future City
without competing?
Yes! Future City is first and foremost a Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
program. Educators, parents, and mentors are
encouraged to adapt Future City to match their
individual educational goals. Over the years,
educators and mentors have used the Virtual
City Design to teach city planning; the Essay to
strengthen research and writing skills; and the
Physical Model to understand scale, potential
and kinetic energy, and city planning.
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Future City Competition
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Evaluations find Future City
Teaches 21 Century Skills
Educators, mentors, and parents agree Future
City is strengthening students’ skills.
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Educators Mentors Parents
Teamwork
84% 89% 90%
Public Speaking
75% 85% 80%
Project Management
74% 76% 83%
Working Independently 71% 76% 84%
Writing & Research
66% 81% 79%
91% of educators said they would recommend
Future City to a colleague.
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Future City Competition
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Future City Overview in 5 minutes
 http://futurecity.org/national-news/future-city-epk
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Future City Competition
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Resources: Video Tutorials
 Now live on
http://futurecity.org/step
bystep The tutorial videos
have been integrated into
the stepbystep pages.
 Each video lives within its
related section. (e.g., the
SimCity tutorial video is
on the overview page of
the Design the Virtual
City page. )
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Future City Competition
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Learning Blocks
Our online Learning Blocks are another great resource you can use to
underpin Future City’s key concepts, or to use independently of the
competition. There are four different Learning Blocks—City Planning:
Zoning and Infrastructure; SimCity: Understanding the Game; Model
Building Concepts; and Model Construction.
Each Learning Block includes:
• Hands-on Activities
• Background Information
• Key Terms & Concepts
• Links to National Standards
• Additional Resources
Check out the Learning Blocks at www.futurecity.org/learningblocks
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Future City Competition
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Role of Engineering Mentor
May be students first contact with an engineer
Provide input and technical advice
Help with project planning
Establish deadlines and goals
Provide reality check
Help with understanding the rules
Let the students do the work
See pages 9 & 10.
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Future City Competition
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Finding an Engineering Mentor
Benefits of Recruiting Your Own Engineering Mentor
 Self interest: Volunteers with a close relationship to your school (e.g., parents of your students) will
automatically be more interested in helping to enhance the learning process
 Knowledge: Local volunteers will have an increased awareness of local concerns and the resources and goals of
your school
 Better outcomes: You have a better chance for success with a volunteer you have chosen.
Finding Engineering Mentor
 Ask an engineer who has visited your classroom on other occasions (career days, science fair judging).
 Appeal to the parents of the students in your class or school. Place an article in the school newspaper or send a
letter home with the students.
 Check with your colleagues at the school. Perhaps one of them is married to or knows an engineer.
 Contact your school’s business partners. A local contact that has made a community commitment is an "easy"
target.
 Contact your City's Bureau of Engineers. City partnerships with the local school district are usually a priority.
 Tap into other community resources such as YMCA, PTA, churches, museums. They may have volunteers that are
willing to help.
 Issue a school press release announcing your participation and the need for a volunteer.
 Look in the phone book under "Engineering" firms. Call to see if they are interested in education programs and
community service.
 Check with the local chapters of the major engineering professional associations
http://pseconline.org/Societies/
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Future City Competition
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Role of Teacher
 Facilitator and advisor
 Organize the team within the school
 Assure competition rules are followed
 Maintain contact with the engineer mentor
 Keep students on task
 National Education Standards (pgs 64-79)
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Future City Competition
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Role of Student
 Actual creators of the “Future City”
 All team members provide input
 Agree on compromise when there is disagreement
 Have FUN!!
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Future City Competition
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Organizing your Future City Students
Single Team from One School or
Classroom (Three Students)
Multiple Teams from One School or
Classroom (Multiple groups of three
students)
Large Group or Classroom Collective Effort
(More than three students working
together on one team)
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Future City Competition
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Organizing your Future City Students
See page 9 of your handbook for more details
on how to organize your students.
The classroom collective effort is a great way to
involve more students in the program.
Keep in mind though that if you choose the
collective effort that your group will have to selfselect three presenters (which have been
chosen by teacher or peers). Those will be the
three “official student team members” for both
the Regional and National Competitions.
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Future City Competition
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Changes for 2013/2014
 New Regional Venue – Museum of Flight
 Choice of game format new SimCity or
SimCity4 (will be judged with same rubric)
 Online Submission Center via National
Future City Website
 Updated scoring, still 5 components was
400 points now 290 points
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Future City Competition
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Changes from 2012-2013
Clubs can now participate. Members of a
nationally, regionally, or state recognized
youth-focused organization, such as the
Boys or Girls Scouts; Boys and Girls Clubs;
4-H, etc. Not sure if your organization
qualifies? Contact info@futurecity.org.
For SimCity4 MAC download codes are no
longer available.
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Future City Competition
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Competition Timeline
While our deadline for SimCity Disk File,
Research Essay and City Narrative is not until
Jan. 13th – we do encourage team’s to work
hard and try to meet the Dec. 20th “Early
Submittal” deadline.
Teams will need to monitor their progress.
Teacher can assign earlier due dates for the
deliverables if their students need more
structure to the schedule.
We encourage teams to assign a project
manager role to one of their team members.
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Future City Competition
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Competition Schedule / Submittal Deadlines
Tuesday, December 20, 2013
Teams will be eligible for an "Early Submittal" drawing if they have turned in:
 SimCity Disk File
 City Narrative Form (pg. 34) and City Narrative (500 words)
 Research Essay Form (pg. 30) and Essay (1000 words)
Monday, January 13, 2014
(in our hands by the end of business day, absolute last day to submit - no late submittals will be accepted)
 SimCity Disk File
 City Narrative Form (pg. 34) and City Narrative (500 words)
 Research Essay Form (pg. 30) and Essay (1000 words)
Friday, January 17, 2014
 Final Team Registration Form (form to be provided later – see our Washington State Future City Web Site)
 Honors Statement (pg. 48)
 Media Waiver Form (pg. 49)
 Home School Affidavit (if applicable, pg. 12)
Saturday, January 25, 2014
NEW VENUE THIS YEAR – Museum of Flight @ Boeing Field
9404 East Marginal Way S, Seattle WA
Regional Competition Day
 Physical City Model
 Competition Expense Form (pg. 42)
 Oral Presentation
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Future City Competition
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Guidelines for Project Management (pg 11)
September – November
1. Choose your SimCity format involving your schools IT specialist in the decision.
2. Check for online training on the national FC website.
3. Meet with student, introduce program, decide team format and decide how often to meet.
4. Recruit and meet with your engineer mentor.
5. Identify major task that need to be completed. Post calendar with deadlines and work with students to estimate
how much time is needed for each task.
6. Introduce SimCity and begin to plan and design Virtual City.
7. Start researching, outlining and creating rough draft of the essay.
8. Start gathering recyclable materials for the physical models.
October – December
1. Continue to design virtual city.
2. Start building the physical model of your Future City.
3. Finish researching and writing the essay.
4. Finish and upload Virtual City Design at www.futurecity.org (see due dates on schedule)
4. Write the City Narrative.
5. Upload your Research Essay and City Narrative www.futurecity.org (see due dates on schedule).
6. Celebrate achievement of milestones and evaluate progress to date.
December – January
1. Continue to work on the physical model.
2. Develop and practice the presentation.
3. In January, compete in the regional Future City Competition.
4. Celebrate achievements.
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Future City Competition
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Regional Competition
 When
 Saturday, January 25, 2014
 Where
Museum of Flight @ Boeing Field
9404 East Marginal Way S, Seattle WA
 Time
 Registration will open at 7:30 a.m. Final schedule will
depend on number of teams actually attending (Team
registration forms due Jan 13, 2013)
 Cost
 Team members provide their own transportation, meals
and any overnight expenses
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Future City Competition
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Competition Format
Morning “run-off competition”
Up to 5 teams from each school may compete
Afternoon “regional competition”
5 finalists from the morning competition
Only one finalist from any individual school
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Future City Competition
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Competition Scoring
Points Scored:
Virtual City Design (pg. 13) was 80pts
60 pts
Essay/Narrative (pgs. 20 / 31) was 75/25pts 60/20 pts
Physical Model (pg. 35) was 120pts
90 pts
Team Presentation (pg. 43) was 90 pts
60 pts
290 pts
Last year the total points scored was 400.
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Future City Competition
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Competition Scoring
Scoring Deductions (pg 52):
 Don’t lose easy points. Become familiar with deductions.
 There are deductions for exceeding essay and narrative
word counts
 There are deductions for missing the honor statement. All
teams will be asked to turn in their completed honor
statement.
 Rude behavior or disruption of judging by any team
member or their guest qualifies as unsportsmanlike
conduct and a 20 point deduction.
 See deductions for the new SimCity
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Future City Competition
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Competition Scoring
Judges’ decisions are final
At the regional level the Regional Coordinator
has the final word on any dispute. There is NO
National appeals process.
At the National Finals the Judges’ decisions are
final.
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Future City Competition
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Regional Competition Prizes
 Prizes
1st Place Team - Trip to National Competition in Washington DC
(if we get 20 registered school, TBD otherwise)
2nd Place Team - TBD
3rd Place Team – TBD
 Medals
Medals for all participants at Regional Competition
 Other
Future City T-shirts
Door prizes
Certificates
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Future City Competition
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Additional Team Members???
While we would like to be able to give out tshirts and prizes to all the kids that
support Future City Teams, our budget is
just not there. If you have additional
students supporting your team members
– let us know in advance and we can let
you know the cost of additional t-shirts
and gift bags.
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Future City Competition
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Following the Regional Competition
 National Competition
Need 20 registered schools to advance from Region
to National competition.
Trip to Washington DC, February 15-19, 2014 for
Regional winning team (hotel & airfare Hyatt Regency
Washington on Capitol Hill, 3 team members, teacher
& mentor)
$7500 for organization’s STEM program and a Trip to
U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama for National
winning team
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Future City Competition
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Guidelines for Project Management (pg 11)
September – November
Hold your initial meetings for the Future City team.
1. Decide your Future City team format.
2. Meet with your team(s) to share the components of the program.
3. Recruit and coordinate with your engineer mentor.
4. Introduce students to SimCity 4 Deluxe.
5. Work on Program Components:
a. Plan the future City
b. Use SimCity to design and simulate the future city
c. Begin researching, outlining, and creating the rough draft of the 1000 word essay.
d. Begin gathering recyclable materials for your model.
October – December
1. Start building the physical model of your Future City.
a. Decide what portion of the city you will build.
b. Decide on the scale of your model.
2. Submit the SimCity 4 Deluxe™ city design of Future City to Regional Coordinator
3. Write a 500 word narrative describing your Future City.
4. Finish researching and writing the essay.
5. Submit the Research Essay and City Narrative to your Regional Coordinator.
6. Celebrate achievement of milestones and evaluate progress to date.
December – January
1. Create presentation.
2. Practice presentation.
3. In January, compete in the regional Future City Competition.
4. Celebrate achievements.
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Future City Competition
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‘Average’ Is Great!
“One of the joys of the Future City
Competition is that it appeals to
‘average’ students; we saw that average
students produce well-above-average
results. Don’t limit the program and
exclude these seemingly average
students who have the potential for
greatness” – Region Coordinator
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Future City Competition
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Future City Overview
Design Virtual
City
Research & Write
Essay on this
Year’s Theme
Write a City
Narrative
Build the Physical
Model
Present Your City2013-2014 Washington State
Future City Competition
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Design Virtual City
 SimCity is a computer game/simulation that allows the team to design,
build, and run a city!
 First phase of the competition. Worth 60 points out of total of 290
competition points.
 Great "incentive" for students to get involved.
 It's more than just a game…
understand the objectives and the judging criteria!
 Several iterations of computer city design will probably be needed.
 Avoid the last minute panics and disasters!
 SimCity Help & Support
 Learning Blocks: SimCity – Understanding the Game & City Planning,
www.futurecity.org/learningblocks
 See the regional website http://washingtonfuturecity.org/simcity.html
Send email to our expert Louis Tibbs at Louis.Tibbs@pse.com
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Future City Competition
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SimCity – Origin Account & Firewall Issues
 Firewall Issues – both SimCity ames require you
to install the free EA gaming system Origin on
your computer.
 To play the new SimCity the computer must be
connected to the Internet access the cloudbased version of SimCity via an Origin account.
Some school’s firewalls need to be altered to
allow access to Origin and SimCity. Consult your
IT dept and www.origin.com/faq
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Future City Competition
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Using the new SimCity
 Using the new SimCity you must design the city using
the Whitewater Valley region.
 Teams then choose to build their city from any of 5 sites
within the region.
 When you create you new city write down the name of
the server you select when you create your city.
 Teams will not need to upload their city for submittal.
We are working out how you will provide you Origin user
name and password. You will still need to complete the
Virtual City Form
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Future City Competition
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For those staying with SimCity4 this
year–no MAC software
Electronic Arts (EA) is not providing
SimCity4 in the MAC version. If you have
no PC options and are unable to find any
MAC copies, please contact me.
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Future City Competition
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Sim City Cheat Codes
The only cheat code allowed by Future
City is the “whererufrom” code to change
the name of your City.
No other cheat code should be used at
any time.
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Future City Competition
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Getting Started - SimCity 4
Teams must design their city in the pre-designed
Medium City Starter Region. Download this at
www.futurecity.org/resources
City must be started from scratch each year.
Your city needs to progress to at least 150 year
into the future and have a population of at least
50,000.
Check out our regional website for submitting /
saving your SimCity Files
http://washingtonfuturecity.org/simcity.html
SimCity 4 is a temperamental program!
Save Often. Save Often. Save Often.
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Future City Competition
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Computer Design Scoring
Virtual City Design Rubric (pg 16-18)
City Plan (15 points)
Basic Svcs & Requirements (15 points)
Tradeoffs (18 points)
City Management (12 points)
Note – Virtual City form added this year
(there had been Benchmark Form that was dropped last year)
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Future City Competition
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SimCity
Using SimCity stimulates awareness about the
complex relationships and dynamics of
citizen needs, growth, taxation, revenues
and sustainability. Discuss how the decisions
the students made about what to build,
when to build it and whether to build
affected wither people wanted to move and
remain in their city.
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Future City Competition
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Research & Write Essay & Narrative
Research Essay Form (pg 30), Research
Essay Rubric (pgs 28-29)
Research Essay Question & Web
Resources (pgs 20-27)
City Narrative (pgs 31-32)
City Narrative Form (pg 34), City Narrative
Rubric (pg 33)
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Future City Competition
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Essay Topic
“Tomorrow’s Transit: Design a way to move
people in and around your city.”
Think about a field trip in our own back yard:
Take a visit to your local city, county or WSDOT
public works department.
Explore some local traffic sites. /
Take a look at some of the suggested web-sites on
pg 26.
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Future City Competition
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Fuel Your Future Research Essay Rubric
Define the Problem (6 points)
Specs and Solution (15 points)
Understand Engr Role (6 points)
Judge Assessment of Solution (15 points)
Understand Engr Role (6 points)
Writing Skills (18 points)
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Future City Competition
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Question & Answer #1
 Question:
 Is the 500 word city narrative supposed to just describe the “Future City” created
with SimCity 4 or is it supposed to include the components represented in the
physical model of the Future City?
 Answer:
 The description in the narrative is not limited to the computer city created with
SimCity 4. It should describe the whole “Future City” described by a
combination of the computer model, essay, and physical model. The judges for
the essay and narrative will probably not be the same ones that will be judging
the computer model. The narrative may be used as a reference for the judges
on competition day to get an overall idea about the team’s “Future City” and as a
resource for questions that they may ask the team. Teams can go to
www.futurecity.org and view the winning abstracts and essays from previous
national competition to use as examples (go to “Site Map” and click on “Winning
Essays”).
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Future City Competition
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City Narrative Rubric
Describe the City (12 points)
Writing Skills (8 points)
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Future City Competition
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Build the Model
Future City Model (pg 3537)
Model Rules (pg 50)
Physical Model Rubric (pg
38-40)
Expense Form (pg 41)
Model Tips and Examples –
Check out the past!!!
http://washingtonfuturecity.or
g/pictures.html
http://futurecity.org/gallery
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Future City Competition
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Model Scoring
Future City Model Rubric (pg 38-40)
Creativity (20 points)
Quality and Scale (18 points)
City Design (42 points)
Materials & Moving Part(s) (18 points)
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Future City Competition
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Clarification on Model Rules
For the physical models it is now stated in
rule 24 (pg 51): Teams must begin with a
new model each year and are not allowed
to use a previous year’s physical model
(note: individual materials, including the
model’s platform, may be reused).
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Future City Competition
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Question & Answer #2
 Question:
 How do you justify making wild and creative aspects of your city in the
physical model and essay but only have standard components in the
computer model? An example would be making an underground city in
the physical model and essay but only have the option of standard city
components in the SimCity model. Or a wild, magnetic levitation
system of transportation in the physical model but not have that in the
computer model.
 Answer:
 It is OK for the kids to be creative in their physical model, to explain
concepts that are not available in the SimCity 4 design function of the
city. “The model does not have to be an exact building-by-building
duplication of the Computer Design. Rather, the purpose of the model
is to give a 3-dimensional, creative representation of the students’
vision of their city.”
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Future City Competition
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Question & Answer #3
 Question:
 What limitations to the students have with regard to what technology they use in
their Future City? Is it just "if they can think of it, then they can do it" or is there
any rule that says they have to be rooted in reality in any way? How do you
define this? Does the technology have to be something that is currently being
researched or can it be anything?
 Answer:
 The technology should be based in some type of reality, but we don't have a
specific rule. This subject would be covered when the students present their
models to the judges and have to explain their city and working components. It
can be a technology that is not yet verified, but possible. It is up to the engineer
mentor to guide the discussion.
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Future City Competition
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Question & Answer #4
 Question:
 How picky are the judges going to be about the size of the model and
presentation materials?
 Answer:
 This is an engineering competition and precise dimensions are an import aspect
of engineering. The rules specify maximum dimensions for the model which
include the model base board and any supporting braces (see pg. 35). There are
15 point penalties (pg. 37) if the judge finds that the model or presentation
materials exceed the maximum dimensions (even by a fraction of an inch).
Remember that the judge’s decision is final and there is no appeal. We
recommend that you make the model slightly smaller than the maximum
dimensions to that there will be no question whether it meets the requirements.
The size does not include the table or easel stand, if one is used. It does include
things hanging from or attached to the presentation material (like balloons and
other props).
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Future City Competition
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Team Presentation
Rules (pg. 50)
Presentation Not to
Exceed 7 Minutes
QA w/ Judges 5-8
Minutes
Presentation (pg. 4345)
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Future City Competition
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Team Presentation
Team Presentation Rubric (pg 46-47)
Knowledge (30 points)
Presentation SKills (18 points)
Teamwork (12 points)
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Future City Competition
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Presentation Tips
 Keep cue cards to a minimum
 Focus on selling some aspect of your city
 Don’t just spit out confusing game statistics
 Let judges and onlookers know what portion of your city
you modeled
 Don’t loose easy points
Expense Form (15 pt deduction)
Model ID Card (5 pt deduction)
Make model size smaller than (not equal to) max dimensions
 Practice, Practice, Practice!!!
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Future City Competition
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Question & Answer #5
 Question:
 Is is OK to have costumes and props for the presentation and is there any limit
to what the students can use?
 Answer:
 Students are encouraged to be creative and as professional as possible. The
purpose of the team presentation materials is to concisely describe specific
design issues, features and key aspects of the city design. Costumes and props
add a fun dimension to the program but they do not add to the presentation
scoring. The competition is designed to have an “economically level playing
field” so expensive costumes and props are not encouraged. Costs for any
materials used as part of the presentation including special costumes or props
should be included on the materials expense form and may not exceed $100
(cash or in-kind)?
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Future City Competition
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Regional Competition
The Judges got ready!
The Teams were prepared!
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Future City Competition
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Regional Competition
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Future City Competition
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Regional Competition
Judging the
Presentation and
Models
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Future City Competition
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Committee Contact Information
 Regional Coordinator
Karen Pavletich
kpavle@ieee.org / 425-462-3871
 Teacher/School Coordinator
Jens Nedrud Jens.Nedrud@pse.com
 Mentor Coordinator
Curtis Lu Curtis.Lu@seattle.gov
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Future City Competition
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