Category: For Kids

For Coaches and Teachers, For Hosts and Facilitators, For Kids, Resources

Competition Kit Dos and Don’ts

Alison Weaverdyck

The first Meet is just one week away, so it is time to think about getting the students prepared to compete. Whether or not you hold any practices before the season starts, it is important to make sure you competition kit is up to snuff. This may be the first time your competition is being used, or maybe your are dusting off the tried-and-true one from last year. Either way, there are certain things that are vital to every Meet.

Make sure that your competition kit is clearly labeled with your team’s school in case it gets misplaced. Kits should include only the following items, extra items will be discarded by facilitators.

1. Pencils- Kits may have up to 6 pencils, so make sure they are sharp and they have good erasers.

2. Markers or Bingo dabbers- Teams should have the following 8 colors available to them: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, black and brown. Markers can dry out over time, so it is a good idea to test yours before each Meet. Kits may also contain up to 5 “day-glo” highlighter markers in addition to the regular markers or Bingo dabbers (these are slightly larger than markers and contain colored ink, which allows the artist to cover more area on a backdrop or piece of paper quickly, but harder to create fine detail).

3. Scratch paper- Each kit should contain a stack of scratch paper (fresh or recycled) up to 1/2 inch thick. Scratch paper is often used during Mind Sprints and Face-Off events.

4. Tape- Teams may have up to four rolls of tape in their kits, 2 clear “Scotch” tape style and 2 masking tape. The masking tape should be the standard buff color, not brightly colored painter’s tape.

5. Scissors- Kits should contain 2 pairs of regular paper scissors. Please, no fancy scissors that provide specially textured edges.

6. Dictionaries- Students are allowed to use up to two paperback dictionaries during each Meet. Some dictionaries contain extra information such as a table to help convert between different kinds of units, but these enriched dictionaries provide an unfair advantage and are not allowed.

7. Name tags- Team members must wear a name tag at all times during their Meet. Make sure you have name tags large enough to also include the team’s letter as assigned during registration (students receive stickers during registration). These can be single-use name tags that are discarded after every Meet, or more permanent ones such as those that pin on to clothing. Students are encouraged to decorate their name tags, but their name and Team number must be easily read by facilitators.

Items in the competition kit may be used throughout Face-Off and Mind Sprint events, and during P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box preparation, but they are not allowed during performances. For instance, students are not allowed to use materials from the kit as part of a prop that is used during the show. Tape may make an appearance in order to hang a back drop at the beginning of a performance before the timer starts timing, but it cannot be used to tie up a prisoner, etc during a performance.

And don’t forget, though it is not part of the competition kit each team is required to bring a lidded photo-copy paper box and any additional P.A.R.T.Y. items to the registration table before the Meet begins.

Team’s are encouraged to devise a team “uniform” to build solidarity, but this is not required. Clothing at Meets is limited to those things normally worn during the school day. As much fun as it might be to wear a cape or baseball hat, these items are not allowed during competition.

Good luck and have a great Meet!

For Coaches and Teachers, For Kids, For Parents, Resources, SCAMPER Technique

Getting the Most out of SCAMPER: E is for Eliminate

Alison Weaverdyck

When employing “eliminate” in your brainstorms, one way to think about it is that you are reducing something to its most essential elements. If you take the sound system out of a car, is it still a car? Of course it is. But what about the engine? Your first reaction may be to think that the engine is essential, but I would make an argument that it is really its shape that makes a car a car. Think about cars from The Flintstones, or that kids pedal around their yards before they can ride a bike. These do not have engines, but what other label would you give them other than car? This exercise of stripping something down in order to define it is a great way to get kids to think about the world around them and come to recognize how things may be similar or different in various ways.

It can also help them to create their P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box performances, by helping them get to the heart of what  backdrops, costumes and props need in order represent something more complex. If they want to show a park, can they get by with just drawing a swing set? If they are going to make the audience believe they are carrying something heavy they don’t actually need a great weight, only a sac that looks full (and some good acting skills!).

The most straightforward way to use “eliminate” to get your students to stretch their brains is to start with something intact, and have them take turns eliminating elements and considering the consequences. This could be done systematically by first thinking of all the parts of a thing and then taking each out one by one. The more complex machine, organism or situation you begin with, the more opportunity there is to get rid of different elements, but you can always start simple and move to the more complex.

As I was writing this article I thought of a few prompts you could use with your students that all involve elimination. For instance, if you begin with an airplane and eliminate all the seats, would that lead to a more comfortable flight? Could they find a way to play with their electronic toys if the batteries are taken out? If someone loses their voice in the middle of an argument, what might happen? Or if a certain character was removed from a story, would it still have the same outcome?

For Coaches and Teachers, For Kids, For Parents, Resources, SCAMPER Technique

Getting the Most out of SCAMPER: A is for Adapt

Alison Weaverdyck

One the defining characteristics of human beings is that we are great at adapting. You can find people all over the world in different climates, using different materials to make our homes and eating different food depending on what is available. We use tools to accomplish things we cannot do with our own two hands, and machines that are far stronger than any one person could ever be. More than any other creature on Earth, we are able to adapt to new challenges, and adapt our environment to suit us. And this all possible because of our ability to think creatively.

I asked Peggy Sheldon, the founder of USAT, what she thought about the word adapt, and I really liked her answer. She told me, “It is about seeing and using the patterns in the place, space, and time and using creativity to re-imagine landscape, social, and conceptual systems.” The emphasis on pattern recognition, another thing our big human brains are extremely adept at, is a key part of adaptation. For instance, the delicious Spanish cuisine known as “tapas” did not come about spontaneously. The story goes that there once was an owner of a tavern who had a space outside for his patrons to sit. This outdoor space was in the shade of a large tree, which made it cooler and more comfortable to sit outside, but the leaves and seeds from the tree would sometimes fall into the patrons’ drinks. The patrons would get annoyed and decide to take their business elsewhere. To counteract this problem, the owner started to serve his drinks with a thin slice of Serrano ham across the mouth of the glass to act as a cover, or “tapa”, to keep the seeds out. He saw a pattern of cause (seeds) and effect (loss of business) and adapted to the problem.

As it turned out, the patrons would finish their drinks and then eat the salty ham, which in turn made them more thirsty, which then led to them ordering another round of drinks. Pretty soon, the owner was offering different kinds of salty snacks free of charge, and other people started to catch on to this ingenious idea. So now in the Southern parts of Spain you rarely order a drink without also getting a small plate of olives or some other salty snack along with it free of charge. And from there, chefs started to develop dishes that are almost exclusively served in this way, and a whole new cuisine was born and continued to spread to different countries.

Adaptation is a method of changing actions and attitudes in response to recognizing the need for that change, and this takes a flexible and creative mind. During the course of a USAT season, or even in the middle of a Mind Sprint, students may find it advantageous to adapt. A strategy that seems like a good idea “on paper” may turn out to take too much time or they lose track of the original question they are being asked to answer. The events in USAT are all timed and the season is short, so to be the most successful at Meets students need to be able to quickly evaluate if strategies work and how to change those strategies and try new things to improve. One way coaches and parents can help this process it to take some time after each Meet to talk about what worked and what didn’t work, and to brainstorm new ways to Meet those challenges should they arise again. And it important to remember that changing your mind or your strategy midstream doesn’t mean the first idea was “bad,” but perhaps with some modification you can come to the “best” conclusion.

For Coaches and Teachers, For Kids, For Parents, P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box, Resources, SCAMPER Technique

Getting the Most out of SCAMPER: C is for Combine

Alison Weaverdyck

There are few things that aren’t improved by adding chocolate. Coffee and chocolate, mint and chocolate, and my personal favorite,  a chocolately minty mocha! But blending things together can make more than just delicious caffeinated beverages, it can also be a recipe for creativity.

Where substitution is mostly focused on things and materials, combination is great way to think about manipulating ideas and bringing people together for different purposes. For instance, there is a television show on ABC called Once Upon a Time that incorporates different fairy tales and literary characters into one small town where they explore their connections in the past and how they would interact if thrown together in the present. The Avengers is a popular Marvel Comics franchise where superheroes team up to fight the forces of evil, but it is the force of their individual personalities that ends up being their biggest challenge. And last year USAT had a challenge that asked students to bring different animals together to reach a common goal.

In many ways, just being part of a team is also an exercise in combination. Some students may be stronger at math, others may excel at acting, and some may be better at thinking on their feet. Academic Triathlon is a great opportunity for students to shine in the areas in which they are already strong, and to explore new skills that they may not find as easy to harness. Being able to work together and being supportive of creative risk-taking are key parts to success during AT Meets and beyond.

“Combine” is a great tool to incorporate into P.A.R.T.Y. in a Box challenges. In addition to writing interesting stories, students are asked to quickly construct props and costumes by bringing together materials like plastic cups, paper plates and garbage bags. Time is of the essence during prep time, and practice doesn’t have to make perfect but it sure can save time. These items are a part of almost every Meet, which means it is worth the time to practice working with them and figure out cool ways to bring them together. Cardboard is an incredibly versatile substance, but the box that holds all of the other materials is rarely used as anything but a way to carry the props and costumes to the performance! Just think about the hours of fun your students could have exploring different ways to combine different materials as a way to get excited for a Meet.

 

Announcements, For Coaches and Teachers, For Hosts and Facilitators, For Kids, For Parents, Resources

Download the Newest Version of the Program Manual

Alison Weaverdyck

In case you haven’t found it under the Program Overview or Hosting a Meet pages, you can download the updated PDF of the 2014 USAT Program Manual by clicking the link.

Stay tuned for Getting the Most out of SCAMPER: C is for Combine and new recruitment materials coming soon!