This is great news for our team, but what is Destination Imagination? What do the students do? How do you get involved? What is the level of commitment?
1. What is Destination Imagination?
DI is a creative problem solving program that is based on team work, creative thinking and problem solving. Students can get involved from the primary grades up to high school; so it is a wonderful program to get your school involved in, especially if you need enrichment or a higher level thinking skills program for your student body.
You can have up to seven members on a team, and I encourage you to have the seven students required as it allows for you to have more flexibility with what your team can do, it allows for the sharing of special talents, and allows for "more hands on deck" to create great solutions. I think the more ideas and more collaboration that is possible is great for solving the team challenges.
2. What will the students have to do?
The students should meet weekly to prepare and solve: instant challenges and a central team challenge. The instant challenge is a challenge that the students will be given at the tournament that they will have no prior knowledge of. The students will solve this in front of judges. It may consist of drama, role play, construction, or design. The team must work together to solve this in the allotted time.
The central team challenge is a lot more time consuming; this is where students choose one challenge from a variety of challenges, and spend the next few months problem solving and figuring out their solution to this one challenge. Students have different challenges to choose from: some are more scientific, and others more based on fine arts. For example, the team I worked with was very creative and had a strength in story telling and fine arts, so we chose a challenge that reflected their strengths as a group. We started working on our central challenge in November, and it took the students four months to work out their ideas, build props, and create costumes. At the tournament, they present their challenge to a team of judges.
The most important thing in all of this is: the students solve the challenge. The parents, or teachers are there to help motivate and facilitate the process, however, they are not the ones that solve the problem. The team must sign a Declaration of Independence that states they came up with the ideas to solve the challenge. For example, for my team, this meant that the students created and designed their costumes, built the props, painted the backdrops, wrote the script, wrote the songs, choreographed the dances, and basically created everything!!!!
3. What is the time frame?
Process is important in Destination Imagination. Your team needs time to solve and create the central challenge, and time to practice instant challenges.
I begin the process in early October, and have the team selected by the end of October. The tournament is in March, with the provincial tournament in April. I meet with the students once per week, for about 14-15 weeks.
4. How are teams selected?
Selecting a team is an individual process which I think schools need to think about. At our school, teachers helped select the students by recommending ones they felt needed a challenge, and also students they felt could handle the extra time commitment necessary. These students were invited to a meeting where it was discussed the time commitment necessary, as well as what the program involved.
At another school where I helped out with DI, the teachers were not involved in the process, and any student who was interested was invited. This can work too, however, it needs to be made clear that this is not a "drop in" program. The students have to make all the meetings, and be committed to the process, and work together. For example, if a child decides to quit during the middle of the solution, then it is very disadvantageous to the team. So, the team leader needs to make sure there is the commitment, the staying power of the team, and the ability to work together.
Personally, I think you need really dedicated students that are willing to work together, and those that have staying power, meaning those that will attend meetings and continue to remain focused on solving the challenge. As the students are creating the solution, it is up to them to get together and remain focused on the task. It is not the responsibility of the team manager to hunt down students who would rather be doing other things during the assigned meeting time - and believe me, I have seen this happen!
5. Advice for the year:
a. If you are starting a team, I advise you to give yourself lots of time to digest the manual, and read it all before you begin so you understand what is required. You can get this on line and download it.
b. Begin in early October, and get your team sorted out. Begin working with the students early on and build team work and teach how to work together.
c. Create a calendar and "block in" when you are going to meet and for how long. I gave this calendar to the students at the beginning of the year, and had them review it with their parents so everyone would know when we were meeting. Also, this helped identify how many times we would meet, and take into consideration holidays and the like. In the end, we had 13-14 meeting times, which didn't seem like a lot!
d. Create instant challenges at the beginning of the program. I created 15-25 instant challenges (from old books and from information online) that I could pull out at any meeting and have the students solve. Many of the instant challenges required materials to build things, so I went to the dollar store and bought all the items. Then, I photocopied the instant challenge and put the materials and the challenge in a baggie. This saved so much time, as all I had to do was pull out an instant challenge at every meeting, and not have to run around finding all the materials to pull it all together. This was a lifesaver!
e. Have fun....enjoy the experience and the process. It is wonderful to see the students take over and have ownership over this process. You will seem them bloom with confidence and pride!
For more information, please see the provincial website. I wish you good luck and happy times if you are thinking of starting the program at your school.
British Columbia Destination Imagination Program
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