Odyssey of the Mind Helps Develop 21st Century Skills
Complex technical and artistic problem solving
Global Awareness
- Global competitiveness and understanding
- Teams meet other teams from around the works and the annual World Finals
Intellectual curiosity
- Research to find information needed to solve the problem
- Choosing a problem and idea that is personally exciting
Interpersonal and Collaborative Skills Communication
- Teamwork: consensus, collaboration, communication
- Understanding and valuing the power of diversity within the team
- Understanding personal strengths and weaknesses
- Practicing active listening skills
- Learning to value other team member’s ideas and contributions
Problem Solving & Creative and Critical Thinking
- Analyze complex open-ended real world problems
- Identifying challenges within the problem
- Brainstorm possible technical solutions
- Brainstorm possible thematic and artistic solutions
- Evaluate potential solutions – How creative is this solution? Will other teams have thought of this?
- Spontaneous: training your mind to generate creative solutions by analyzing and evaluation your ideas and learning to use targeted thinking strategies.
Self-Direction
- No outside assistance rule: teams generated research, solutions and decision making
- Select potential solutions using scoring criteria
- Planning for tournaments
Authentic Assessment Accountability and Adaptability
- Team reflection of effectiveness during spontaneous practice
- Team reflection of tournament results
- Planning and refining for future tournaments
- Create-test-improve-re-test best solutions