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.