Tournament of Minds

Tournament of Minds is a problem solving programme for teams of students

from both primary and secondary years. The Tournament's aim is to enhance

the potential of youth by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management,

and the discipline to work collaboratively within a challenging and competitive

environment.

Students are required to solve demanding, open-ended challenges from one

of the following disciplines:
The Arts
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)    
Language Literature
Social Sciences

St Albans entered 3 teams from Year 5 and 6 led under the guidance of

Carmen Aldridge:
Team 1: Arts Challenge: Sophie, Matthew, Ava, Stella, Alfie, Rory
Team 2: STEM Challenge: Hannah, Cooper, Issy, Caitlin, Sam Y, Joe, Vili
Team 3: STEM Challenge: Olivia, Emily, Ciara, Lily, Georgetta, Senha, Isaac

All 3 teams competed in 2 challenges:

Long term Challenge: This is where teams are required to work together

on a Long Term Challenge for six weeks without assistance from teachers,

parents or peers. They develop a creative and original way to communicate

this solution to others, working within predefined parameters such as limited

materials, complex challenge criteria and the deadline of Tournament Day.

Students then present the product of their ideas - their challenge solution - to a panel

of judges and an audience on Tournament Day.

Spontaneous Challenge: This challenge requires rapid interchange of ideas,

the ability to think creatively and well developed group cooperation skills.

Throughout these challenges our 3 St Albans teams showed amazing teamwork

and problem solving skills, supporting each other through the planning, preparation

and delivery of their challenges.  Congratulations to Team 3 who won their division

and have qualified for the Nationals competition in Wellington. Also a congratulations

to Team 1 who were awarded Honours for their performance.

A BIG thank you to the fabulous parent helpers and supporters on the day,

and to Carmen for all her organisation and guidance of our tamariki.