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Odyssey of the Mind preplanning presentation.pptx

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Volusia County is part of the Magic Region for Odyssey of the Mind

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National Website

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Odyssey of the Mind - The peak of Beyond the Box thinking

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Odyssey of the Mind (OM™) teaches students how to develop and use their natural creativity to become problem-solvers. Imagine being faced with a problem that requires an original solution. It can be frightening. Now imagine not being afraid to solve that problem - that is what OM members learn.

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Odyssey of the Mind spontaneous night #1

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Odyssey of the Mind World Finals 2018 problem 3 division II 3rd place

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Prince of Peace Odyssey of the Mind World Finals 2013 Division 1 Problem 4

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Odyssey of the Mind - Florida State 2014 - Primary Division- World's First Art Festival

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2012 Odyssey World Finals - Prob 1 - Div II - HRCS Georgia OhMotional Vehicle

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Chisholm World Finals Performance

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Chisholm Elementary World Finals Performance

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Chisholm Elementary- Magic Center Region 3rd place performance 

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Chisholm Elementary- Magic Center Region 3rd place performance 

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Problem 5- Performance

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Fins, Furs, Feathers, and Friends- Chisholm

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Select the type of problem you would like to view
Verbal hands on
The Fine Print:

It is the responsibility of each coach to know the current rules that are applied during the spontaneous problem. The problems found on Spon Zone and on other external web pages may contain legacy instructions due to rule changes over the years.

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Select the type of problem you would like to view Verbal hands on The Fine Print: It is the responsibility of each coach to know the current rules that are applied during the spontaneous problem. The problems found on Spon Zone and on other external web pages may contain legacy instructions due to rule changes over the years.

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Here are some OM spontaneous practice problems (mostly original). Some we have tried already, some we haven't. I hope they work well for your team!
Groaner
Copy a few page from a children's book of riddles, then cut the copies into pieces with one riddle each. Have each team member ask a riddle of the rest of the team, using any style (e.g., acting out the riddle, accents, whatever) that they can. Go in turn, for 3 or 4 riddles per team member. This started out slowly for our Div. 2 team, but they quickly got into the spirit and had fun with it. And, you can do it several times during the year.

In Jail
"You have been sent to the local jail for a crime you did not commit. You have a friend Jane who is very clever at getting things in to you, past the guards. What would you ask Jane to bring you, and how would it help you get out of jail?"

Story Line
"I will start a story. Each person adds one sentence, then on to the next person. Continue for two minutes." [coach starts a story, such as "Elbert the flea thought he had it made..."]

Egg Drop Challenge
Each team (or 2 or 3 people) is given a fresh egg, 25 straws, one meter of masking tape, and miscellaneous other stuff. "Your task is to drop the egg from the height of 8 feet and have it reach the floor without breaking. You have 8 minutes to prepare." [none of our Div. 2 teams succeeded, but a team of adults did]

Double-Letter Delight
"I'm looking for words with double letters, like aa, bb, cc, etc. As one big team, tell me a word that contains aa, then a word with bb, then a word with cc, etc. You can skip jj and qq."

Riddles for the Entire Team
From 19, how can you take away 1 and leave 20?
Given a circle, divide it into 8 areas by drawing 3 lines.
Change IX into 6 by drawing one line.

Hot Potato
"Name things that..." played with a tossed object. Kids can toss it to anyone, whoever receives it has to answer next. (designed to build speed and team spirit)

Puzzle Jumble
This is overly simple, but is a good team building exercise. Team Instructions: The team will have ten minutes to complete the problem. Points will be awarded for teamwork. Dump a 1000 piece puzzle on the table and begin timing. Judge's instructions: Award 1 point for "common" team work; 5 points for creative or significant teamwork; 10 points for exemplary behavior that carries the team way ahead. Examples of "Common" teamwork include "process" oriented help; a better way to work. Examples of "Creative" teamwork include encouragement and support to other team members. Make note of the behaviors observed and discuss with team after time is called.
Bob
E-Mail: Igou@ma.ultranet.com

Peanut Butter and Jelly
The team's problem is to build a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The scoring is 10 points for the technical aspects and 100 points for presentation of the solution. Presentation time will be 8 minutes.

Obviously this could be a very short, dry, unexciting demonstration about how to make a simple sandwich. And 8 minutes is way too long to devote to it.

Style would add: a restaurant patron, a waiter, a chef, a menu, costumes for the participants, a setting (table, chairs), atmosphere (lighting, candles, music, scenery), sophistication (fine china, 12 piece dinnerware, wine), dialogue ( accents, different languages between waiter and chef), drama (happens during a murder mystery), additional participants, etc., etc., etc. And this is just a common solution elaborated. Credit for this goes to last year's NHOM Coach's Cafe where this was their explanation on style.
Bob
E-Mail: Igou@ma.ultranet.com

Change of Focus
An exercise that you might want to try would be to set up a verbal spontaneous (use flip cards or not at your option) and ask the team to solve the following problem:

Your problem is to build on the idea of a team member...each team member must use a part of the idea given in the previous answer. For example Team member 1 says "the sky is blue," team member 2 might say "Grapejuice is blue" and team member number 3 might say "Grapes grow on vines" etc.

Give one point for the same basic idea, example "the sky is blue" followed by "grapejuice is blue" and three points for changing the focus of the statement as in "Grapejuice is blue" and "Grapes grow on vines"...what I mean by this is that one answer simply names another item which is blue, while the second opens the door for answers to the question what grows on vines? Go through this exercise once at every meeting and you will see them get the idea....then when they are stuck during a "regular" spontaneous practice ask them how the work they have done in this exercise might help them to get unstuck.....it worked for me!
Dee Urban, nysoma18@MORAN.COM

Cantilever
Equipment: Materials to make a structure (paper, index cards, tape, string, spaghetti, marshmallows, etc.), ruler. Also, a test weight (roughly 4 ounces or 100 grams) tied to a string and paper clip hook.
Problem: Build a structure that extends off the end of the table and supports the test weight. The structure may be taped to the table.
Timing: You have eight minutes to build your structure. During construction you may test it with the weight.
Scoring: For each inch (2 cm) the structure extends off the table, earn 10 points. All lengths are measured in the horizontal plane of the table, so if the structure sags, a loss of length is incurred.
Adapted from an idea by Lee Semel

The Bridge
Give the team a stack of index cards and some adhesive materials (Avery dots, address labels, tape, hot glue and/or other glue). They also have access to a book and some carpenter's nails. The task is to build a bridge that is tall and wide enough to span the book lying on the table. At the end of eight minutes see how much weight (e.g., carpenter's nails) their bridge can support without collapsing or sagging (in the middle) enough to touch the table.

Example: feather, wet feather, 2 wet feathers, 100 strands of hair, one hundred strands of wet hair, an elephant, restart-paper, etc., etc., etc.

I found that this was a good problem for a team that loved to dig everything out of the box or bag and start messing around with it before they even discussed the problem. It also is handy for those times when you don't have any real stuff on hand.
Didn't find what you need? Here are other resources:

Return to the Odyssey of the Mind area of the SwopNet Education Databank page, which has links to many other useful and interesting OM resources.

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Odyssey of the Mind - Spontaneous Problems

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Here are some OM spontaneous practice problems (mostly original). Some we have tried already, some we haven't. I hope they work well for your team!Groaner Copy a few page from a children's book of riddles, then cut the copies into pieces with one riddle each.

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New Spontaneous Problems Verbal Problem Bubble Gate (new) Verbal Problem King Purrsalot (new) Verbal Problem Never Have I Ever (new) Verbal Problem What Goes Up Must Come Down (new) Verbal - If You Scratch My Back, I'll Scrath Yours Verbal - Up A Creek Without A Paddle Verbal - Smell the Roses Verbal - Black and White Verbal -...

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NEPA OotM is pleased to present Spontaneous Problems Galore! - an online resource for teams to brush up for those 100 spontaneous points on competition day.

Now you can comment on the problems you practice with and share your most creative solutions with the world! Just add a comment at the bottom of any page.

What is Spontaneous?
(from the Odyssey of the Mind program guide, pages 26-27)

This part of the competition is called "Spontaneous" because teams don't know what they'll have to do until they enter the competition room. Solving spontaneous problems teaches students to "think on their feet."

Spontaneous problems are "top secret." Teams participating in the same long-term problem and division will solve the same spontaneous problem, so, to ensure fairness, it is critical that no one discusses the problem outside of the room until all teams have competed.

To prepare, teams should practice for the three common types of spontaneous problems as listed below. However, they should also be prepared for the unexpected.

Verbal spontaneous problems require verbal responses. They may incorporate improvisation or dramatization. Teams are scored for common and creative responses.

Hands-on spontaneous problems require teams to physically create a tangible solution. Each hands-on problem has its own specific scoring categories.

Verbal/hands-on spontaneous problems require teams to create a tangible solution and include some type of verbal component, for example, creating a story about the solution. Teams are scored for both the tangible solution and the verbal presentation.

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Welcome to the world's largest spontaneous resource! Nearly 300 verbal problems! Over 160 hands-on problems! Over 50 verbal/hands-on problems! NEPA OotM is pleased to present Spontaneous Problems Galore! - an online resource for teams to brush up for those 100 spontaneous points on competition day.