2017-18 CHALLENGE PREVIEWS
NEW THIS SEASON: Review the First Look Document to learn more about each of our competitive Team Challenges.
TECHNICAL CHALLENGE: MAZE CRAZE
The Technical Challenge prompts students to complete tasks by using engineering, research, strategic planning and related skills
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Design and build a device to navigate a tournament-provided maze.
- Design and build a prop that transforms in the maze.
- Design and build a way to remove an object from the maze.
- Create and present a story about a journey through the maze.
- Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.
SCIENTIFIC CHALLENGE: UNLIKELY ATTRACTION
Our Scientific Challenge blends the research and curiosity of science with the thrill and creativity of theater arts.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Explore scientific concepts used in amusement park attractions.
- Design and build an attraction that uses scientific concepts during its operation.
- Create and present a story that features the attraction operating in an unlikely location.
- Portray the unlikely location using sights and sounds.
- Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.
ENGINEERING CHALLENGE: DROP ZONE
Our Engineering Challenge asks teams to design, build and test load-bearing structures made out of specific materials.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Design, build and test a freestanding structure that can withstand impacts from dropped weights.
- Tell a story about a sudden event with dramatic impact.
- Design and create a visible or audible depiction of the story’s sudden event.
- Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.
FINE ARTS: CHANGE OF TUNE
Our Fine Arts Challenge has students flex their acting and creative muscles as they experiment with different types of artistic media and theater arts, write scripts and design props.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Create and present a musical that includes a change in plans.
- Include music and lyrics that enhance the storytelling.
- Create and present a spectacle as part of the musical.
- Design and integrate a set change into the musical.
- Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.
IMPROVISATIONAL
Our Improvisational Challenge is all about spontaneity and storytelling. Teams receive topics and produce skits right on the spot.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Research different cultures and famous explorers.
- Create and present an improvisational skit about a quest to return a lost cultural treasure to its owner.
- Integrate two explorers and a prop into the quest.
- Show how characters work together to overcome a setback.
SERVICE LEARNING
Our Service Learning Challenge is designed to engage students in public service to address real-life community issues.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Identify, design, carry out, and evaluate a project that addresses a need in a real community.
- Create a live presentation that highlights the project and the impact it made on the community.
- Create infographics that include information about the project.
- Create a storage device that transforms as the story of the project unfolds.
- Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.
EARLY LEARNING / RISING STARS®
Our Rising Stars for Early Learners Challenge offers simple experiences with the creative process, and it gives young kids (preschool – 2nd grade) a place to work together and make new friends.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Explore how children of different cultures live, learn and play.
- Create and present a play that tells a story about 2 different cultures.
- Present similarities and differences between the 2 cultures.
- Design and build a prop that will transform and be used in 2 different ways.
- Create costumes and scenery to help tell the story.
INSTANT CHALLENGE
Instant Challenges require teams to engage in quick, creative and critical thinking.
At a tournament, a team will receive an Instant Challenge and the materials with which to solve it. The team members must think on their feet by applying appropriate skills to produce a solution in a period of just five to eight minutes.
In a world with growing cultural connections, increased levels and types of communication, and a new need for real-time teamwork and problem solving, the ability to solve problems quickly is becoming increasingly critical.
Instant Challenges are performance-based, task-based, or a combination of the two. Although each Instant Challenge has different requirements, all Instant Challenges reward teams for their teamwork. Instant Challenges are kept confidential through the day of the tournament.
