Hitting the Ground Running: Piggy Backing

BRAINSTORMING!

The most used skill in Odyssey of the Mind.

This week, we started brainstorming about brainstorming.  Being able to produce creative, productive ideas from brainstorms sessions is such an important task within this OM season; it's almost all we do! To kick us off on this brainstorming meeting, we started with a spontaneous that required them to use the skill piggy backing (a sub skill within brainstorming). Piggy backing is when you use one of your teammate's ideas to help formulate your own.  In the spontaneous problem the team was tasked to name something heavier than the what the person in front of them said, with the first person naming something heavier than a brick.  During the first round of this problem, they struggled a little bit.  While they didn't have the issue of not listening to one another, they listed heavier items way to fast.

Ex: A brick, a cement block, an elephant, a ship, all the water in the ocean, the earth, the universe...

After completing the spontaneous problem we discussed the ideas of piggy backing and brainstorming in general, we continued brainstorming rules for brainstorming.  Brainstorming is a delicate process; students need to feel safe to come up with as many ideas as possible.

After discussing the rules of brainstorming, I asked the team to revisit the spontaneous problem and think of ways that they could be more successful, specifically using the piggy backing strategy.  The team discussed their strategy and tried the problem again.  They did significantly better after having the ability to discuss it.

Lastly, we did one final brainstorm session on how we, as a team, can be successful. As mentioned earlier, this is important as we want to be as successful as we can be.  We have the unique ability to be able to participate in the competition this year and would love to see how well we can do this year.

Homework:
Students took home two pieces of paper: Video/Photo Release and the Student Team Member Contract.  The Video/Photo Release is just for this blog.  As we continue working, I love to take pictures of the team doing their thing.  As they are minors, I don't want to put these photos/videos online without your consent.
The Team Member Contract is a very basic contract given to us from the Odyssey of the Mind Program.  Please take time to review this before signing it.

Students: please bring these two forms back at the next practice.

LASTLY,
Students please fill out this short survey by next practice!

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A New Year, A New Team

Its that time again...

Time for a new OM team!

Wednesday was our first practice! I am so excited after seeing familiar faces as well as meeting new members.  (Some of you have really had a growth spurt over the summer!) 

First practice went very well.  It will be a little more difficult at the beginning as we have a mix of old and new members, however I am confident that we will be able to get the members up to speed in no time.  At our first practice, we attempted a Spontaneous problem, did a creativity test, filled out a few "Getting to Know You" activities, and began discussing, very generally, what Odyssey of the Mind entails.  

The creativity test we did was the "Incomplete Figure" test.  This test measures a couple of various creative thinking skills such as flexibility, originality, fluency, and elaboration, all of which are very important skills to have and develop through the Odyssey of the Mind program.  As you can see through the students and Mrs. K's incomplete figures, we definitely have several highly creative people on this team!

HOMEWORK!

Please pick two of your favorite problems to work on and perform for OM.  We will have a vote for our problem soon. You can these problem synopses as well as additional information on the Odyssey of the Mind website. 

Problem 1: Runaway 'Train'

The team’s problem is to design, build and operate one or more vehicles that will travel on tracks and make stops at different stations without touching the floor. While traveling between stations, the vehicles must overcome obstacles —moving uphill, towing something, and more. The theme of the performance will explain the vehicle’s difficulties on the track and will include a ‘conductor’ character. Once the vehicle reaches its final destination it will display a flag or banner during a victory lap!

Problem 2: Experiencing Technical Difficulties 

The problem is to design, build, and demonstrate various devices that complete specific tasks. The team will create a theme where technical failures must be resolved through completing the tasks. There will be a list of tasks to choose from including ring a bell, change the wording on something, sound an alarm, move an object, etc. There will also be a mysterious engineer character. Of course, there’s a twist — all of the devices must be powered by rubber bands!

Problem 3: Pandora's Box

In this classics problem, teams will put a video game spin on the story of Pandora’s Box. A gamer character will take on this multi-level game inspired by the Greek myth. The game will include a prologue that depicts the original story of Pandora’s Box, three characters representing different evils that escaped the box, and a power meter that represents the gamer character’s health. To beat the game, the player will advance to the final level where it will release hope into the world.

Problem 4: Lose Your Marbles

This problem requires teams to design, build, and test a structure, made only of balsa wood and glue, that will balance and support as much weight as possible. The structure will also hold five marbles that will be released during weight placement as a result of a team-created device removing a piece of the structure. After the crusher board and one additional weight are placed on top of the structure, the first marble will be released. After the next weight is supported, the team will use its device to release another marble, and so on. The team will incorporate weight placement and “losing your marbles” into the theme of the performance.

Problem 5: Silent Movie

Lights, camera...action! In this problem teams will create and present a performance depicting a Director character that produces and presents a silent movie featuring a humorous villain character that commits three silly acts of “villainy”. Characters that are in the movie may not speak as part of the presentation of the movie. Instead, like classic silent films, the team will use music played on a team-created instrument and creatively displayed subtitles to convey its story to the audience and judges. Also, teams will use a signal to indicate when the movie begins and ends.