Every entry has the same shape: date, author, sprint, what happened, what next. This is the entry workflow students should internalize.
flowchart TD
Start([Notebook entry time]) --> Header[Header:
Date + Author + Sprint number]
Header --> Context[Context:
What problem were we solving?]
Context --> What[What happened:
Decisions made, things built,
experiments run]
What --> Data[Evidence:
Sketches, photos,
measurements, data]
Data --> Reflect[Reflection:
What worked? What didn't?]
Reflect --> Next[Next steps:
What's the next action?]
Next --> Sign([Sign + initial
entry complete])
style Start fill:#1e293b,stroke:#22d3ee,stroke-width:2px,color:#e2e8f0
style Sign fill:#1e293b,stroke:#22c55e,stroke-width:2px,color:#e2e8f0
The engineering notebook is not a journal — it is evidence of disciplined thinking. Testing data, decision matrices, and STEM connections are what separate a Design Award winner from a team that just competed hard. This guide teaches you how to build that evidence all season long.
Spartan coaching: These examples and prompts teach a method; they are not entries to copy or a required notebook format. Record your team's actual work, including uncertainty and failed tests, in students' own words. Never invent earlier decisions or results. See our student-centered policy guidance and current notebook rubric reference. The official GRSF rubric controls if this guide conflicts with it.
Spartan coaching: These examples and prompts teach a method; they are not entries to copy or a required notebook format. Record your team's actual work, including uncertainty and failed tests, in students' own words. Never invent earlier decisions or results. See our student-centered policy guidance and current notebook rubric reference. The official GRSF rubric controls if this guide conflicts with it.
The current rubric has 16 criteria scored on four levels, totaling 64 points. See our rubric reference for the scoring structure. This table maps coaching practices to evidence areas; it does not assign scores.
| Current rubric area | Spartan coaching: evidence to capture |
|---|---|
| Notebook Organization — 16 | Date and attribute entries, number pages, maintain a useful TOC, and credit sources where used. Organize chronologically or by section while preserving the sequence of work. |
| Define — 12 | Explain the problem, criteria and constraints, strategy, research, and distinct ideas your team considered. Keep sketches and comparisons. |
| Develop Solutions — 16 | Connect prototypes, repeatable test methods, qualitative observations, measurements, and decisions. A weighted matrix can help explain a choice; it is a coaching tool, not a mandatory format. |
| Optimize — 12 | Annotate mechanism and code documentation. Link each change to results and design intent. |
| Reflection & Iteration — 8 | Explain lessons and show how they influenced subsequent work, including failures and decisions to change direction. |
Document tests your team actually performed. This means:
This is what a well-documented test entry looks like in your notebook. Every row tells the complete story:
Every test entry above uses sample size (n=10), average, and comparison to a benchmark. These are core scientific measurement concepts. Being able to explain them to a judge demonstrates genuine STEM understanding — not just robot building.
💬 Interview answer: “We use controlled experiments — changing one variable at a time — and record n=10 trials per test so our conclusions are based on data, not luck. We compare results to pre-set benchmarks to decide whether a change is actually an improvement.”
Practice using a real decision matrix. Score each intake design 1–5 and see the weighted totals update automatically.
| Criterion | Weight | 🔁 Roller Intake | 👉 Claw Intake | ♠️ Suction Intake |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cycle Speed | ×3 | |||
| Consistency | ×3 | |||
| Ease of Build | ×2 | |||
| Jam Risk | ×2 | |||
| Part Count | ×1 | |||
| TOTAL | — | — | — |
The decision matrix is a real mathematical tool called Weighted Sum Model (WSM) — used by engineers everywhere from NASA to software product teams. Each total is calculated as: Total = ∑(criterion score × weight). This is a dot product of two vectors.
💬 Interview answer: “We use a weighted decision matrix. We assign weights based on what matters most for this game, score each option 1–5, and multiply. The math makes our reasoning visible — judges can see exactly why we chose what we chose, not just that we chose it.”
Every entry should have these elements. Build them into a template your whole team uses so documentation is consistent even when written by different members:
Choose paper or digital based on how your team records and retrieves its work. Follow the event submission instructions. Spartan recommendations:
Fill in these fields as if documenting today’s session. The completed entry appears below.
Professional engineers maintain design history files — every decision, test, and change is traceable forward and backward. Your notebook is your design history file. In aerospace, medical devices, and automotive engineering, this documentation is legally required.
💬 Interview answer: “Our notebook is structured like a professional design history file. Every entry has a date, who was there, what EDP step it covers, and a link to what came before. You can trace any design decision from the problem statement all the way to the final robot.”
Your entire robot is a system — interconnected subsystems that depend on each other. The EDP itself is a feedback loop: you test, analyze, and redesign based on results. Systems thinking is one of the core competencies of engineering and computer science.
💬 Interview answer: “We view the robot as a system where every subsystem affects the others. Our notebook documents not just isolated tests but how changes in one area rippled through to others — for example, when we sped up the intake, we had to re-tune our autonomous timing because the cycle was now shorter than the PID had assumed.”