Who?	Competition for all students in grades K-12 in public, parochial or private schools and organized home educators                 Three (3) levels of competition:
				Elementary - Grades K-5 Middle School - Grades 6-8 High School - Grades 9-12
		What?	This competition is a team event in which each team will demonstrate its collective ability to think divergently in solving problems and be scored on the creativity and effectiveness of the solution. Problems are a variety of verbal and tactile.
“Promoting excellence in education and showcasing the talents of all our youth.”
		When?	See Academic Rodeo General Schedule and Academic Rodeo Contest Timelines for specific dates and deadlines.
		Where?	Contest rounds will occur in the Activities Building.
	See General Guidelines for general event rules and award information. ©Mindset Breaking Experience name has been copyrighted by Thinker's Ink.

 

Contest Rules

(Revised July 2008)

Coaching Suggestions:

Creativity is an element that adds dimension to problem solving. So often in the classroom setting, learners rely upon memorization to bring closure to a situation or to develop a solution to a problem, but when creativity is interjected into the experience and spontaneity is required, a fresh new way to solve problems arises. This method takes all the learned ideas and builds upon them using a "real world" technique.

Most authorities agree that creative thinking builds on five abilities: fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, and evaluation. For the purpose of the problems in this contest, all these abilities must be applied in a quick, spontaneous manner. Fluency is the ability to generate many ideas. Flexibility is the ability to shift thinking from one category of ideas to another. Originality is the ability to think of and to recognize unique ideas. Elaboration is the ability to develop an idea for clarity. Evaluation is the ability to judge the appropriateness of an idea in relation to the problem or situation. These five abilities overlap but can be exercised separately or in combination. The problems in this contest are designed to encourage the development of all five of these abilities by individuals and by a team. Problems are a variety of verbal and tactile.

Teams can get the most from coaching for this contest in several ways. First, encourage learners to be as fluent and flexible as possible, avoiding premature closure. Second, do not allow learners to fall victim to mindset produced by lines on a page or characteristics of building materials. Instead, urge them to move beyond the conventional boundaries set by the classroom and to apply the rule, "if it doesn't say you can't, then you can." Third, help learners recognize group dynamics and how to effectively use them to solve problems as a group. Finally, use the contest problems as a springboard to other adventures into creativity and life long learning.

Contest Rules:

• Each participating school should choose a team for the appropriate competition level(s) composed of five (5) to seven (7) team members.  It is recommended that schools choose two alternates for preparation purposes only. For the competition, ONLY five (5) to seven (7) members should be registered on the Student Registration Form as participants in the Mindset Breaking Experience for any given level of competition. All team members must be enrolled for the current school year in one of the grades that fall within one of the levels of competition. However, all team members do not have to be in the same grade. There may be one team per campus per competition level regardless of the grade level make-up of other schools in the district. For example, a 5th and 6th grade campus may have an elementary level team and a middle school level team. A campus with Kindergarten through 2nd grade may have an elementary team, while a nearby school in the same district with 3rd through 5th grades could also have an elementary team.
• Only students whose names appear on the official contest roster prepared from the Student Registration Form submitted by the school may compete. If substitutions are made after the registration form has been submitted, a new form must be submitted prior to the beginning of the competition noting the change. Schools are encouraged to register the maximum of seven (7) and to have the back-up alternates in case something unforeseen arises and team members are unable to compete. No teams of fewer than five (5) members may compete. A school my register one (1) team from each level - elementary, middle school and high school - if all of those levels exist at the school campus.
• In case of a large number of entries, a qualifying round will be held prior to the finals.
• Each team will be given an open-ended problem to solve. The problem may be any of the following types or any combination thereof:
  • verbal - a problem with a solution based solely on oral or written language
  • tactile - a problem with a solution physically "built" using the materials provided
  • kinesthetic - a problem with a solution that effectively incorporates the actions of the team members.
• The time limit for a team to complete a solution will vary from three (3) to twelve (12) minutes depending upon the nature of the problem.
• Each team in each level will receive the same problem. Teams will be kept isolated from the audience and competition area until after completion of the problem. A team receiving assistance or intervention from an audience member will receive a penalty deduction from its final score. Any participating team member or spectator from a participating school giving assistance to another team will receive a penalty deduction for his/her team or his/her school's participating team.
• The judging panel will consist of trained judges and a timekeeper. The final score will be an average of the judges' scores.
• Scores will be based on individual and collective responses to the problem with the higher scores for more creative responses and lower scores for common responses. The team with the highest average score shall be ranked first, the team with the second highest average score shall be ranked second, and the team with the third highest average score shall be ranked third. Ties shall be broken using the average number of creative responses given by the team. The team with a higher number of creative responses will be ranked higher, thus breaking the tie.
• The team should be prepared to accept oral and/or written instructions before executing a solution to a problem.
• A student may compete on only one team.

 

Contest Timeline

(See Academic Rodeo Timeline for specific dates and deadlines.) 

• Primary School Contact for the school or organization will submit the School/Organization Registration Form by the deadline. See the Academic Rodeo Timeline for specific deadline.  Click here to see if your school is registered.
• Sponsor will select team members.
• Sponsor will register students using the Student Registration Form by the designated deadline. This can be coordinated with sponsors of other contests. Remember that a school may register 1 team for each level represented at the school.
• Registered teams will be notified when the schedule has been set.The Preliminary schedules will show specific competition times for each participating school, and the Final Schedule will give general times for the final six teams.
• Mindset Breaking Experience Sample Problems are available to assist sponsors in coaching teams.
• Winning teams will be recognized at the Academic Rodeo Awards Celebration. Students and/or school sponsors should attend to accept awards for the school.