2017-18 CHALLENGE PREVIEWS

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.