Students for a Creative Iowa

Congratulations to all of our teams who performed at the Sub-state tournament this past Saturday, March 9th. Tournament results are posted on the Competition Results page. A special congratulations goes to the Middle Level Challenge B (Wind Visible) team, Blue Eggs and Turkey (Team 112-18306), from St. Mary’s School in Storm Lake for earning a Renaissance Award. The Renaissance Award is awarded to teams or individuals who demonstrate extraordinary amounts of effort and preparation or outstanding skill in engineering, design or performance. You can read what the Appraisers and Challenge Masters wrote about this team on the Competition Results page.

So, what’s next? To prepare for the State tournament, teams are encouraged to analyze their Sub-state tournament standings, and to use that information to make changes to their Team Challenge solution. Your team’s tournament score is comprised of individual components detailing whether your team did an above average, average or fair job. To learn specifically where your team needs to make changes, it’s important to examine the individual components of its score very carefully, and to compare them to the Reward Points section of your team’s Challenge.

Raw Score vs. Scaled Score

Let’s start by discussing what the 2 rows of numbers mean that comprise your team’s score. Although there are some exceptions that we’ll get to in a moment, in general the bottom row of numbers is the team’s Raw Scores, or the number of points Appraisers award the team for its performance in the Central Challenge, Team Choice Elements and Instant Challenge. It is important to note that these are preliminary scores. Together, these points add up to a maximum combined 400 points: 300 points for the Team Challenge (240 Central Challenge points + 60 Team Choice Elements points), and 100 points for Instant Challenge. If your team is doing Challenge D, the improvisational Challenge, you have no Team Choice Elements and therefore your Central Challenge alone accounts for three-fourths of your team’s score, or 300 points.

The top row of numbers is your team’s Scaled Scores. What this means is that the preliminary or Raw Scores are turned over to the Score Room, where they are stacked against other teams’ scores in your Challenge and Level, and curved on a scale, much as grades in a typical classroom are curved on a scale. If Team ABC’s Raw Score of 76.75 is the highest Instant Challenge score for its Challenge and Level, for example, then its Scaled Score is 100 points, and all other teams in that Challenge and Level are scored proportionately beneath it.

The significance of the Raw Scores versus the Scaled Scores is that between the two is a narrow time frame when your team can get some initial feedback. Thirty minutes after a team performs its Team Challenge, one Team Manager and one team member may pick up the team’s Raw Scores and discuss them with the Head Appraiser or Challenge Master. If your team has not been doing this, there is no guarantee that the Raw Scores will be accessible later. More importantly, you have missed a great opportunity to learn more about the team’s performance. The official reviews areas of strength and areas where you team may need to improve, asking open-ended questions that the team should take to heart and discuss during a team meeting. The official will not suggest specific ways to improve scoring areas, of course, for this would be Interference. After this meeting, the Raw Scores go to the Score Room for final computerized calculations.

Breakdown of Reward Points

Where you will find your team’s Scaled and Raw Scores can be found in the bulleted list below. Note that the scores correspond directly with the Reward Points section of your team’s Challenge. It is critical that your team examine each column of its scores in relationship to (1) its own Total Scaled Score, and (2) other teams’ individual scoring elements, since this will help your team understand where it would be most impactful to make changes and/or focus additional effort. Point out to your team the pie charts that are in the Reward Points section of their Challenge. This will help them understand visually the impact of different scoring elements.

Challenge A:

• Column 1: The top number is the Total Scaled Score (max. 400 points). Below it are deductions (if any).
• Column 2: The top number is the Scaled Zone Score (max. 120 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 3: The top number is the Scaled Vehicle Score (max. 50 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 4: The top number is the Scaled Travel Score (max. 25 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 5: The top number is the Scaled Story Score (max. 45 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 6: The top number is the Scaled Team Choice Elements Score (max. 60 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 7: The top number is the Scaled Instant Challenge score (max. 100 points). Below it is the Raw Score.

Challenges B, C & projectOUTREACH®:

• Column 1: The top number is the Total Scaled Score (max. 400 points). Below it are deductions (if any).
• Column 2: The top number is the Scaled Central Challenge Score (max. 240 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 3: The top number is the Scaled Team Choice Elements Score (max. 60 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 4: The top number is the Scaled Instant Challenge score (max. 100 points). Below it is the Raw Score.

Challenge D:

• Column 1: The top number is the Total Scaled Score (max. 400 points). Below it are deductions (if any).
• Column 2: The top number is the Scaled Central Challenge Score (max. 300 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 3: The top number is the Scaled Instant Challenge score (max. 100 points). Below it is the Raw Score.

Challenge E:

• Column 1: The top number is the Total Scaled Score (max. 400 points). Below it are deductions (if any).
• Column 2: The top number is the Scaled Weight Held Ratio (max. 140 points). Below it is the Raw Score, based on the numbers in Column 3.
• Column 3: The top number is the Total Weight Held by the Structure (in pounds). The bottom number is the Structure Weight (in grams). If you take the top number and divide it by the bottom number, this gives you the Raw Score for Column 2.
• Column 4: The top number is the combined Scaled Score (max. 100 points) for Element 2 (Creativity and Workmanship of Structure), Element 3 (Structure Bill of Materials), and Element 4 (Story with Twist and Prop/Costume). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 5: The top number is the Scaled Team Choice Elements Score (max. 60 points). Below it is the Raw Score.
• Column 6: The top number is the Scaled Instant Challenge score (max. 100 points). Below it is the Raw Score.

Types of Scores

Teams are awarded Subjective, Objective or Zero Scores for various scoring elements.

An objective score is awarded for fulfilling a specific requirement: If you do this, it is worth X number of points. If it is there, the points are awarded; if it is not, that scoring element receives a Zero Score. Make sure that your team is not losing easy points by missing required elements! Often, objective scores are awarded for problem-solving, i.e., solving a specific task.

Whenever you see a range of points awarded for a scoring element, this is a subjective score that is the result of the Appraisers’ opinions. Subjective scores are usually awarded for creativity, innovation, the Team Choice Elements, and Instant Challenge. Is your team getting the most out of its subjective scoring areas? Let’s examine these areas in more detail.

Creativity and Innovation

In general, anywhere that creativity is scored, the team needs to ask itself: Is our solution really original, innovative, unique, uncommon, or unexpected? Is the team making sure that every element is its OWN solution, rather than being produced by someone else? This could be an Interference issue and result in a deduction, especially at State, where scoring is stricter.

Some Challenges (often the technical ones) call for an innovation score. Innovation is related to complexity of the solution. Ask your team what else it can do to elaborate, or add details. Is there something new the team can research that would result in a different, possibly more complex solution? Often (though not always), higher complexity results in a higher innovation score.

Team Choice Elements

Many teams do not score as highly as they can for their Team Choice Elements. Keep in mind, first of all, that Appraisers can only score what the team describes on its Tournament Data Form. If this information is not detailed enough, then the Appraisers will not have a clear understanding of what they should score. The Appraisers MUST use what the team describes on the Tournament Data Form. If the information is not there, the Appraisers cannot make assumptions about where the team wants them to award points.

Has the team selected the right Team Choice Element, or is there something else that would be a better choice? Make sure that the Team Choice Element is not something that is already being scored elsewhere. If your team’s costumes are a required part of the Challenge, for example, then you should not list them as a Team Choice Element. You may, however, single out one of the costumes because of its special properties; make sure you describe what is special on your Tournament Data Form!

A very important fact to keep in mind is that a Team Choice Element is awarded points in 3 areas, worth 10 points apiece: creativity and originality; quality, workmanship or effort that is evident, and integration into the Presentation. Creativity and originality are often apparent when common materials are used in uncommon, unintended or unexpected ways. Quality, workmanship or effort become evident by the details invested in the outcome, by the amount of time it takes to develop the final product, and by the learning that takes place during the process. Integration into the Presentation concerns how well the Team Choice Element fits into the story; would the story be the same if this Team Choice Element were not present?

Instant Challenge

A team’s Instant Challenge score is 25 percent of its final score, and often has a huge impact on the overall competitive outcome. Doing well in Instant Challenge is usually the result of practicing often and consistently, and of debriefing after every practice. A team should practice Instant Challenge at every team meeting. Ideally, a balance of different types of Instant Challenges should be included.

Instant Challenges are either task or performance-based, or a combination of the two. Task-based Challenges involve moving, guiding, controlling, building for weight, height and/or strength (or weakness!), modifying, narrowing down choices, or communicating. In contrast, performance-based Challenges require a performance involving a beginning, middle and ending. They may involve props and/or materials, or simply a team’s imagination. Any Instant Challenge may be non-verbal, in whole or in part.

Team Managers should feel free to modify practice Instant Challenges to address a perceived need that a team has. For example, a Team Manager can add or subtract time for a Challenge, remove or add steps, or substitute other materials that are smaller (or larger) in scale than the ones described in a published Instant Challenge. They can require a non-verbal solution, ask the team to split into two parts, remove or add materials, and so on. Have a team member or two sit out and make critical observations. Always debrief your team afterward, asking your team to evaluate itself: What do you think you did well? What could you do better? What would you change the next time around? Don’t be afraid to repeat the same Instant Challenge, requiring a completely different solution the second time around!

Swap out the roles that team members play; in business this is known as cross-training. Do the same with your team, making sure that different people act as facilitator, timekeeper, rules keeper, builder, planner, and so on. The ways in which your team members communicate with each other through these roles is an important part of their teamwork score. Most Instant Challenges have a planning component, when teamwork is evaluated. Keep in mind that a team that cannot be heard can also not be awarded points; do not whisper at any time during Instant Challenge!

A useful exercise is having your team write its own Instant Challenge, which makes them much more aware of the components of Instant Challenge, as well as the problem-solving process.

To best prepare for Instant Challenge, help your team build a library of experiences from which it can draw when faced with Instant Challenge in a competitive situation. At the very least, your team will feel more comfortable in dealing with the unexpected if it has practiced Instant Challenge often and regularly. Resources for Instant Challenge are found in cre8iowa’s Instant Challenge Library, as well as in the Destination Imagination Resource Area and at ShopDI. Next year, make sure your team attends cre8iowa’s annual Instant Challenger workshop.

Advancing to the Next Level

In moving from one Tournament level to the next, all teams are expected to evaluate how they did previously, set new goals and modify their solutions. The best teams often triple the level of complexity between the Sub-state and State tournaments, and triple it again between State and Global Finals tournaments. We are looking forward to seeing the results of that process!