Montana Destination Imagination

It is important to register your team(s) as soon as possible.  This allows us to also make sure your team managers are receiving this e-mail and are notified of any trainings and important information.  To register your team(s) go to the Montana DI website, set up an account, and proceed to the registration form.  The account will allow you to update the registration as needed.  If you don't have your team rosters complete or they have not picked a challenge please still register the team with their team manager.  You can always go back and update the registration.  If you need help finding funding to purchase your membership or pay your tournament fees please contact Montana Destination ImagiNation at montanacq@msn.com or 406-285-3777. 

When your team began brainstorming ideas, they began collecting and recording themes, characters, gadgets, costumes, scenery, puns, etc.  If they use the sticky note recording system, they now have a very large pile of notes, right?  For focusing, it is a good idea to have your ideas sorted by category. Before the team begins prioritizing their ideas, they should review the rules:

1. Use affirmative judgment. Only point out the ideas that you like.
2. Be deliberate.  Telling why you like a particular idea or how it helps to bring the solution together will help speed the process along as each team member brings their point of view forward. 
3. Consider novelty. Your team is not looking for just any solution but an original, creative, eye-popping “Wow!” of a solution!
4. Stay on course. Don’t get side tracked to things that are not going to help your solution. Remember that all ideas are good for something but not all ideas no matter how good they are may be appropriate for your challenge solution.  Don’t waste time reviewing the reasons that you don’t like an idea. Your team may find themselves using some of your least favorite ideas later simply because they are the best idea for the task at hand.

Now, your team is ready to mark the ideas that they like.  If you have very opinionated team members, a good way to handle this is to give each team member five sticky dots and let them silently pick the five ideas that are their favorites.  More than one team member can mark a particular idea but a team member may not load all their dots onto one idea.  You can modify the above focusing tool as necessary to suit your team’s situation.  Once you have the popular ideas marked, you will have a place to begin honing the solution. 

Your team may add ideas or use unmarked ideas at any time.  As Team Manager you may write down any idea that arrives spontaneously and add it to the list that they have.  As a facilitator, you may find it useful to take them back to their ideas for review.  Whatever you do, don’t throw away the team’s cache of ideas!

Remember to use the generating tools and focusing tools as needed.  You don’t want to stop the team when they are moving forward on their own.  We’ll DIscuss more generating and focusing tools in the coming weeks.

In our last DIcussion we began Performance Based Instant Challenges where teams are typically asked to design and present a story in a very short amount of time.  The other type of Instant Challenge that teams need to practice is a task based challenge. Task based challenges ask teams to use provided materials to build, move, change or protect some object.  Provided materials include:

1. objects that can be manipulated or broken apart such as newspaper or paper clip.
2. objects that must be left intact during the challenge such a yard stick or frying pan.
3. Tools such as scissors and pliers that may be used to build but are not an actual part of the solution. Start practicing with materials that can be manipulated. 

The following materials are often found in task based challenges:

Straws, paper cups, rubber bands, toothpicks, mailing labels, string, newspaper, toilet paper rolls, index cards, plastic spoons, paper clips, packing peanuts, envelopes, marshmallows, gum drops, nails …just about any supply that comes cheap and in abundance. 

Teams should practice using these materials in creative ways; after all, a cup in IC is never used as a cup!  Ask your team to show you how each of these items might be manipulated to extend, connect, control or constrain.  Obviously some materials work better than others for a specific task but your team might not be given those materials at tournament!

Use the IC Materials List to build a one-gallon Zip Lock bag of materials.  This bag can last over the course of a few meetings depending on how you choose to control the materials at your practices.  For new teams,  you may need to allow a wilder exploration of materials just so they have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the properties of each material.  Experienced teams will enjoy a narrower focus where they are asked to use materials in untraditional ways to create surprising results.

Here are some Mini Challenges that you can present to your team using the bag of materials.  You can manipulate the challenges by the materials you provide for each challenge and by the emphasis of points that you allot. When the point emphasis is more on the creative use of materials and design than on the actual height, you will encourage your team to take a bigger risk with non-traditional materials. Each challenge is 5 minutes.

1. Using two kinds of materials, build the longest line possible that can be picked up. 
2. Using three kinds of materials, build the tallest tower possible that will stand on its own for at least 10 seconds.
3. Using two kinds of materials build a bridge from one chair to another.
4. Using three kinds of materials build a tower that is at least 10 inches high that will hold weight. (Weights can be bean bags, boxes of nails, anything of your own design)
5. Using two kinds of materials build a bridge that will hold weight. 
6. Using four kinds of materials, build a course with at least 5 turns from a chair to the floor.  Test your course with a marble.

 In order to help the team build skills you can change the materials or challenge in any way you wish.  Each time the team does the challenge a different way, have the team members discuss  ways they can produce the most surprising results to get the most points. 

Quick Task Based Instant Challenges

1)  Edible Vehicle:

Challenge: Construct a vehicle in 3 minutes. Test drive the vehicle down the ramp.  

Materials: 8 lifesavers, 10 pretzel sticks (butter braids), 10 large marshmallows, ramp, and 4 Oreo cookies.  

Score: 

• 10 points for the first 4 inches the vehicle rolled.
• 5 points for each additional inch.
• up to 20 points for creative use of materials
• up to 20 points for team work

Relax and eat your creation.  

2) Ping Pong Raft:

Challenge:  Create an object that is able to move across a basin of water with air power. 

Problem: You must build an object using the provided materials. This object must move across the basin of water propelled by air. The object will receive bonus points for transporting ping-pong balls.

Time: You have 5 minutes to design and build your object and 2 minutes to propel your object.

Materials: Ping-pong balls, 15 straws, 10 toothpicks, Wallpaper trough or some basin filled with water, 12 inches of masking tape, 2 sheets 8-1/2 x 11 paper, scissors (may not be part of objects).

Score:

• 10 points for each lap across the basin.
• 7 points for each ping-pong ball that is on the object at the end of the time
• up to 20 points for the creativity of the object
• up to 20 points for how well your team works together

For more Instant Challenge Ideas order Cream of the Crop from Montana DI  or check out the Instant Challenge CDs and Bookd available from www.shopdi.org.