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Tournaments of the Mind

Tournament of the Minds is an Australia wide program designed to give students the opportunity to participate in creative activities involving open ended challenges which demand experimentation and reward divergent thinking.

Participating students form teams of seven, which must comprise a minimum of two Year 7 students and no more than four from any one year group.

Some time is spent in training the teams to think laterally and to work together. Students will be challenged in terms of their acting skills, memory, creativity, leadership and problem solving abilities.

As Tournament Day approaches, teams receive their long term challenge. The team will have six weeks to prepare and trial solutions to their challenge. During this time they must work independently of teachers. They have a $50 budget for which they are accountable and they must make all their own resources.

On the day they present their solution to a panel of judges. It should take no longer than ten minutes to perform and students must stay within a three metre square at all times during the performance.

In addition the team will be presented with a spontaneous challenge. This is an unseen ‘on the spot’ challenge which could include word associations, drawing, creative writing or be a ‘hands on’ challenge.

The aims of Tournament include to:

• Develop creative problem solving skills
• Foster cooperative learning and teamwork
• Encourage experimentation and risk taking
• Expand and reward creative and divergent thinking
• Stimulate a love of learning
• Develop enterprise
• Celebrate excellence

Seven Hills High School has sent teams to Tournaments for the past three years and while we have not yet represented region at state level – we are getting very close!!

Last Updated on 15/05/2009