Iowa Membership Registration is now open

 contests, season kickoff, tournament  Comments Off
Oct 102012
 

The Iowa Membership Registration Form for the 2012-13 season has now been posted.

This year’s registration is different than in years past as Students for a Creative Iowa is requiring ALL registrations to be submitted via email to cre8iowa@gmail.com. Cre8iowa is making this change in an effort to be more environmentally friendly and to be more to be more effective for our members. We believe this new method will more efficient, because it allows us to more quickly process registration forms, making it easier for us to provide you with accurate information sooner, it allows us to save our members on postage costs, and it allows us to provide better support as everything can be looked up electronically. This year, members will use a fillable Word document to enter all appropriate information. We have also tried to simplify the form this year by including all the terms and conditions on the last two pages versus spread throughout the document.

Also, don’t be alarmed if you have never filled out a form such as this one. We have created a How To Guide to walk you through the process. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at cre8iowa@gmail.com or by calling Judy Nolan at 515-864-1863.

Please go to http://www.cre8iowa.org/current-season/iowa-membership-registration/ and review all the information found on this page. It is on this page that you can download both the Iowa Membership Registration Form and the How To Guide.

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Focus on teamwork: part 1

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Sep 272012
 

Many Team Managers teach students that the acronym TEAM stands for “Together Everyone Achieves More.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? The reality is that good teamwork, or effective collaboration, takes a lot of effort. Good teamwork does not develop overnight, and there are no shortcuts.

Destination Imagination is an educational program that is based on the concept that the creative process can be taught, from imagination to innovation, through team-based Challenges. Everywhere you look in the program, from the international headquarters housed in Cherry Hill, New Jersey to teams scattered around Iowa, you’ll see teams. A team of adult volunteers writes the Challenges, teams of students solve them, teams of Appraisers evaluate the students’ solutions, and a team of adult volunteers runs Students for a Creative Iowa, the non-profit organization that administrates DI in Iowa. All of these teams share in common a passion for learning about the creativity process, but they also share some growing pains which they gradually overcome as they learn about each other, and as they work together.

If you take a look at your program materials, you’ll notice that Roadmap is a great guide for the path your team travels during the program season. On page 11 you’ll find a brief description of a psychological framework for group development, originally published by psychologist Bruce Tuckman in 1965. According to Tuckman, all small groups or teams go through five stages of development that can overlap. At the beginning of the DI season, your team is in the Forming Stage, when behavior is characterized by reserve and politeness because group members don’t know each other well enough to be completely open with their feelings. Team members might also encounter roadblocks when generating ideas because they may not want to offend each other, and thus don’t share what’s on their minds. A Team Manager’s job, during this stage, is to help team members get to know each other, and to encourage disagreement—strange as that may sound—in order to get ideas flowing. This of course leads to the second stage of team development, Storming.

The Forming Stage conforms, to a great extent, to Stage 1 of the Destination Imagination season timeline, Recognize. Some teams will spend 2 weeks in this stage, while others will spend 4 weeks or more. This is a time for teams to focus on team building, not on choosing a Team Challenge right away. Whether a team is comprised of last year’s members, brand new ones, or a combination of returning and new students, it is critical for them to focus on teamwork at the beginning of the season. Not doing so often leads to conflict down the road, and sometimes to a team failing, or not finishing its Challenge.

Stage 1 in Roadmap is found on pages 19-54, and includes lots of team building activities: By the Numbers, Team Name, Shape Up, Let’s Hear It, and Team Planning—just to name a few. The 4th activity is called Team Choice Element Inventory, and can be used to help a team discover its interests. Please note that a team’s interests do not necessarily reflect its strengths, but instead where a team may be motivated to place its efforts, both learning and otherwise. The very last activity in Stage 1 is Reflection, when teams finally select a Team Challenge.

In truth, team building is an ongoing process that continues during the entire season. Sometimes the best teamwork is facilitated not by what goes on at team meetings, but by what goes on between the meetings. When I used to manage a team, every student had a special role, one of which was the Team Spirit Coordinator. It was this person’s job to communicate with team members about generating ideas for non-DI activities the team could do together. This resulted in a trip to the local Dairy Queen store for ice cream treats, a board game night, a combination birthday/winter holiday party, a movie night, bowling, and many shared pizzas. All of these activities contributed to team members getting to know, trust and respect each other—and in their not being afraid to disagree with each other, ultimately planting a rich soil for creativity to sprout.

Team building activities

You’ll hear experienced Team Managers tell you that Instant Challenges act as team building experiences, and this is really true. As teams practice Instant Challenge, they build a library of experiences that includes not only problem-solving skills, but especially teamwork skills. That is why you are encouraged, at every team meeting, to practice at least one Instant Challenge. This week’s newly-released Instant Challenges, which are found in the cre8iowa Instant Challenge Library, are as follows:

Improvisational and theatre games are an excellent way for team members to get to know each other. Felicia Borges, a long-time Destination Imagination volunteer from California, compiled and modified 21 pages of Kid Friendly Improv Games, based on information found at the Learn Improv site.

Icebreakers or warm-ups provide another great way for your team to develop effective teamwork skills. In 40 Icebreakers for Small Groups, you’ll find 32 pages of activities that are great to use with youths of all ages in a small setting (such as a home or classroom). Thank you to Grahame Knox from the United Kingdom, a youth ministry leader and trainer who has provided this free e-book on his blog, Insight.

Cre8iowa has a limited number of improvisational, drama and  small group activity books that are available to Iowa’s DI participants, as follows. To save costs, all books will be mailed via Media Mail, and shipping will be added to the book prices. Contact cre8iowa@gmail.com if you are interested.

  • Improvisation: Use What You Know—Make Up What You Don’t, 2nd Edition, by Brad Newton, founding member of Kidprov. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • Team Challenges: 170+ Group Activities to Build Cooperation, Communication, and Creativity, by Kris Bordessa, a Destination Imagination Team Manager. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • More Team-Building Activities for Every Group, by Alanna Jones. Includes 107 games and activities. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • On Stage: Theater Games and Activities for Kids, by Lisa Bany-Winters. Learn about improvisational games, make puppets, discover makeup secrets, build a set, and more. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • Theatre Games for Young Performers: Improvisations and Exercises for Developing Acting Skills, by Maria C. Novelly. Provides imagination-expanding exercises in pantomime, voice and improvisational acting. Price: $15 plus shipping
  • The Ultimate Improv Book: A Complete Guide to Comedy Improvisation, by Edward J. Nevraumont and Nicholas P. Hanson. Complete improve curriculum in 24 class-length units. Price: $18 plus shipping

Next week’s post will discuss a number of fun products that are great alternatives to book exercises for team building. Remember: If your team thinks DI is fun, you’re doing something right.

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cre8iowa calendar is finalized / Challenge E & Clarification information

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Sep 142012
 

1. The cre8iowa Calendar has been finalized, so any dates marked tentative on our Web site have now been confirmed. The only date that has changed, since we are always subject to the logistics of our host site, is the Sub-state tournament, which will be held on March 9th, 2013, NOT March 2nd. Visit http://www.cre8iowa.org/current-season/calendar/ for the season calendar.

We recognize that no matter what date(s) we set, there will always be students who have a conflict. We encourage you, when you complete your cre8iowa Membership Registration, to let us know at that time about any special scheduling requests. The deadline for making special schedule requests is 3 weeks before any tournament; send an email to cre8iowa@gmail.com.

Often things can be worked out by scheduling your team very early or very late. We do our best to accommodate special scheduling requests. You should also know that not having a full team present at Sub-state has no impact on its advancement to the State tournament. Absentee Sub-state members can still perform at the State tournament. The minimum number of team members required, in order to perform at any tournament, is two. What is more important is that the team have a viable solution that reflects real effort, even if the solution is not complete. All of our teams do advance to the State tournament, since we consider the Sub-state tournament to be a dry run. It is an opportunity to work out kinks and get some scoring feedback. It is also a requirement for a team to perform at the Sub-state tournament in order to advance to the next level. In any event, it is always a good idea for a team to plan its performance with the thought in the back of their minds that some team members may be absent due to a conflict or illness. It’s all part of the creative problem-solving process!

2. Challenge E, Twist-O-Rama: A 58-page booklet about building a “ram” is now available at this link: http://downloads.destinationimagination.org/downloads/2012-13_ChallengeE_How_to_Build_a_Ram.pdf

3. Published Clarifications are rules that supersede all other Challenge instructions. Make sure you are having a team member check the Clarifications page prior to every team meeting: http://www.destinationimagination.org/challenge-program/clarifications

4. You can “follow” Destination Imagination on Facebook or on Twitter. When new Clarifications are released, they will be announced in these locations.

Questions? Contact Judy Nolan, Co-Affiliate Training Director, at judynolan@aol.com.

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I bought a Team Pack, so what’s next?

 season kickoff, start a team, team support  Comments Off
Sep 112012
 

Once you have purchased your Team Pack and recruited a team (see Recruiting Kit for more information), it’s time to take care of administrative details that will set the stage for your team–and your peace of mind–for the rest of the season. You are at Stage 1 in the program: Recognize. This means becoming familiar with the Challenge, team members, and resources.

1. Download your program materials from the Resource Area. You can wait until program materials are shipped to you by Destination Imagination headquarters (DIHQ), but you can also download these materials from the Resource Area. The link to the Resource Area is at the far right end of  the orange navigation bar found at the top of the redesigned Destination Imagination Web site located at http://www.destinationimagination.org. All you need in order to enter the Resource Area is a valid e-mail address and a team number that Destination Imagination provides. If for some reason you cannot find your team number(s), you can always e-mail me (judynolan@aol.com), and I’ll supply the missing information.

2. Familiarize yourself with the program materials, which consist of the following:

  • Roadmap is a guide to help a Team Manager manage a team from its first session to a tournament. It is the perfect place to begin reading, if you have never managed a team! It includes tools, activities and practice Instant Challenges that teams can do over the course of the season. If you have never managed a team before, Roadmap is a step-by-step guide that provides details about what happens at team meetings. If you are an experienced Team Manager, you’ll find that the CPS (Creative Problem Solving) tools in this guide provide you with constructive ways to hold team discussions without interfering with the team’s idea-generating process, or with their ultimate solution.
  • The Challenges section contains the complete set of rules for each of the six competitive Challenges and the non-competitive Early Learners Rising Stars!® Challenge. The Challenges themselves are divided into sections, beginning with Points of Interest, STEM Attributes, the Central Challenge, Team Choice Elements (not present in improvisational Challenge D), Presentation Site, Reward Points, and Tournament Data Form. When your team is choosing its Challenge, Points of Interest will provide the team with a summary of the main requirements of the Challenge. The STEM Attributes let you know where there are opportunities for learning in science, technology, engineering and math; these exist in every Challenge. The Central Challenge explains DI-defined rules for the main part of the Challenge, while Team Choice Elements are team-defined scoring opportunities that represent additional areas for the team to score points not already covered by the Central Challenge. The Presentation Site is a description of the competition area at tournament; it lets you know what to expect. Finally, Reward Points tells your teams exactly how they will be scored. The last few pages of every Challenge are the Tournament Data Form, which must be completed by the team (not the Team Manager) and brought to every tournament. The Early Learners Rising Stars!® Challenge is divided into similar sections with different names.
  • Rules of the Road are general rules that apply to every competitive team (not Rising Stars!®). They include details about the two main components of the program, Team Challenge and Instant Challenge; team formation rules; competition levels; Team Manager guidelines; scoring; rules of Interference; the Team Budget and Expense Report; safety, and much more. Rules of the Road are superseded by Challenge rules, so if you’re not sure what rule to follow, see your team’s Challenge.
  • Instant Challenge Practice Set. The Instant Challenge Practice Set does not ship with your program materials, but instead will be found in the Resource Area. The last time I checked, it had not yet been uploaded, but when it is released, you’ll want to download it right away so that your team will be able to practice Instant Challenge at every team meeting. (9/20/12 Update: The Instant Challenge Practice Guide is now available for download in the Resource Area. One week ago, we were notified that it had been discontinued, but apparently this information was not accurate.)  The skills students learn from Instant Challenge follow them into their Team Challenge, and also help team members to bond together. Meanwhile, you’ll find practice Instant Challenges in Roadmap, as well as in cre8iowa’s Instant Challenge (IC) Library. Here are links to 4 new Instant Challenges that were just uploaded to the cre8iowa IC Library:

3. Prepare for your first team meeting. In general, team meetings should include a warm-up activity and/or an Instant Challenge, provide discussion time to learn about or work on the Challenge, and allow for some reflection and/or planning (which creates a bridge to the next meeting). Most teams enjoy snacks, so allow time for that! Shorter meetings are appropriate for younger students, and longer meetings for older students. Let students’ attention span be your guide. You’ll find some suggestions for time management HERE.

When I was a Team Manager, I tried to include parents at the first meeting to make sure that parents, students and I were all on the same page.

  • Let parents and students know what you expect of them, and what they can expect of you. This is a good time to discuss behavioral expectations. (See Expectations for Teams in the cre8iowa Document Library.) Make sure you ask your team to set some ground rules for each other as well; they are more likely to follow rules they establish themselves. Discuss the need for an Appraiser. All teams doing competitive Challenges at Iowa tournaments are required to supply one trained adult Appraiser at both the Sub-state and State tournament. Cre8iowa provides training on one of three Saturdays in January and February that your Appraiser can select. A team parent typically fills this role, but if that is not possible, see How to Find Appraisers for other suggestions.
  • Collect contact information, as well as the age, grade and birthdate of each team member. You will need some of these details for the cre8iowa Membership Registration.
  • Become a cre8iowa Member. Registration information will be posted in October. Your cre8iowa Membership includes a Basic Training Podcast for Team Managers & Coordinators, an Advanced Training Workshop for Team Managers & Coordinators, Appraiser Training, e-mail/phone/blog support, and participation at all Iowa tournaments.
  • Set a meeting calendar. Take into consideration competition dates (see cre8iowa Calendar HERE), the Instant Challenger team workshop in January, other student activities, holidays, family vacations and other potential schedule conflicts. When I managed a team, I also asked my team to come up with a plan for decision-making, since it was known in advance that there would be frequent occasions when not everyone would be present at team meetings. My team decided that for less important decisions, the team members who were present would make decisions; for more important decisions, they would find the time to meet, or communicate electronically with each other.
  • Make sure everyone understands the rules of Interference. Review and have everyone sign the Interference Contract found on page 28 of Roadmap.
  • Ask for one or two students to be responsible for checking Published Clarifications on the Destination Imagination Web site. Published Clarifications supersede Challenge rules and are released whenever the Challenge writers (known as International Challenger Masters, or ICMs) determine that a particular rule needs further explanation. At every meeting, I asked my team members to report on any newly released Published Clarifications.
  • Provide program materials to team members. I found it helpful for each of my team members to have a 3-ring binder that they were responsible for bringing to every meeting. The binder contained sections for Rules of the Road, the Team Challenge, Clarifications, meeting agendas, and discussion notes (in the students’ own words). After a tournament, I also made photocopies of Appraiser comments and the Raw Score sheets, and distributed them to students for their binders. The purpose of the binder is not only to help students stay organized, but also to help them take ownership of their Challenge.
  • Establish an Instant Challenge routine at every team meeting. Ahead of time, print Appraiser and team copies of a practice Instant Challenge, and collect the materials. As a Team Manager, I found it convenient to store Instant Challenge materials in large Ziploc® bags. I clipped them to skirt hangers in a closet, ready-to-go anytime!
  • Start collecting ideas for warm-up activities that you can use at meetings to build teamwork. Teamwork does not happen overnight; even with an experienced team, students grow and change, and require team-building activities. You’ll find suggestions for team-building in the Document Library.

4. Most importantly, have FUN with your teams. If students are having fun, you’re doing something right!

Note: Many of the links in this post point to items found in the cre8iowa Document Library. You may find it helpful to visit this location our Web site.

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2012-13 Season officially begins

 destination imagination news, season kickoff, start a team  Comments Off
Sep 042012
 

Welcome to another great start of the Destination Imagination program season, which means that over the next few weeks our Web site will be updated with current information. If you missed some of our news over the summer, visit the following posts:

  • cre8iowa on IPR. Retired Affiliate Director Jay Swords and Team Manager Brett Monnard from Davenport are interviewed by “Talk of Iowa,” a program on Iowa Public Radio, about Fostering Creativity in Iowa. In this creative segment, Jonah Lehrer, the author of the new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, first expounds on creativity, then Jay and Brett speak about the DI program and its benefit for Iowa students.
  • 2012 Global Finals results. In the photos and video below, you’ll see highlights of some of the Iowa teams’ Globals Finals journey.

Dingbatz, a Secondary Level improvisational team from West Des Moines, performs its Team Challenge at Global Finals. This team was recognized for its 1st place Instant Challenge performance out of 46 teams.

Hypothetically we have a Giant Mushroom, a Secondary Level team from Fairfield , earned 7th place at Global Finals in its scientific Challenge out of 46 teams.

Meanwhile, are your teams ready to learn about the creative process, from imagination to innovation? On September 1, six new competitive Challenges and one new Early Learning Challenge (Rising Stars!®) were released. Click HERE to see the Challenge previews.

To Start a Team, follow these 5 easy steps:

1. Buy a 1-Team Pack, 5-Team Pack, 30-Team Pack or Early Learners Team. You can use a credit card, purchase order, or mail in your order. Visit DI’s shopping portal at http://www.ShopDI.org.

2. Download your program materials or wait for DI to ship your materials to you. All program materials are located in the Resource Area of the Destination Imagination site, located at http://www.destinationimagination.org. (The Web site has been redesigned, so look for Resource Area on the far right side of the navigation bar at the top of the home page.)

3. Subscribe to the Iowa mailing list by entering your e-mail address in the upper right side bar. By doing so, you will receive e-mail support every time a blog post is released.

4. Recruit your team: 1 Team Manager, 2-7 students for competitive teams or 5-10 students for Rising Stars!® teams, 1 adult Appraiser for competitive teams or 1 adult volunteer for Rising Stars!® teams. Download Recruiting Kit materials at http://www.cre8iowa.org/start-a-team/ so that you can hold an information meeting with parents and students. (Note: This part of the Web site is being updated over the next couple of weeks, so you may still see information that refers to last season.)

5. Purchase an Iowa membership registration when it becomes available: http://www.cre8iowa.org/current-season/iowa-membership-registration/

As always, if you have questions or concerns, please e-mail Judy Nolan, Co-Affiliate Training Director, judynolan@aol.com, or cre8iowa@gmail.com.

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Sewing notions: a variety of connectors

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Oct 242011
 

The first year that I managed a team, it was apparent that while the boys were bright, inquisitive and imaginative, they were handicapped by their lack of knowledge about the materials with which they worked. All Destination ImagiNation teams are tasked with discovering the ways in which materials work—the ways that they behave as connectors, extenders and controllers—and the properties of these same materials. The need to manipulate materials effectively is important in both the Team Challenge and Instant Challenge.

To help remedy my team’s lack of exposure to different types of materials, I sent the boys off on various scavenger hunts to different types of stores, where they were asked to generate lists of connectors, extenders and controllers. They were told that connectors, extenders and controllers can be used alone or in combination with other materials, that connectors are used to fasten or hold things together, that extenders are used to make materials longer, and controllers are used to guide or contain materials. The lists my team generated became important resources as the season progressed and the team sought unique solutions to challenges. For example, the team used sewing machine bobbins as pulleys, a type of controller. The boys discovered that PVC pipe is available in both tube and joint forms, and that this material can be used as a connector, an extender and a controller, often at the same time.

One of my team’s biggest surprises was that a fabric store contains a broad range of connectors, not just fabrics and sewing notions for costumes. They also learned that a fabric store is an important source for adhesive products. Did you know, for example, that Jo-Ann Fabrics has a free glue guide that describes 8 brands of adhesives (58 total products), how they are used, and what types of materials for which they are best suited? These materials include fabric and trims, leather, beads, jewelry findings, paper, cardboard, plaster, felt, Styrofoam®, glass, crystal, plastic, vinyl, metal, wire, wood and more. If your local store does not have one of these guides, you can contact the corporate headquarters and ask where you can get a copy: Jo-Ann Fabrics Corporate Office | Headquarters, 5555 Darrow Road Hudson, OH 44236, Tel. (330)656-2600.

One way to help your team members discover as many different types of connectors as possible is to have them visit a fabric store, and generate a list of connectors using ABC brainstorming. ABC brainstorming is a thinking tool that enables teams to quickly discover options they might not otherwise consider. The team is provided with a 2-column grid listing the letters of the alphabet in the first column, and a blank 2nd column, in this case for anything students discover which might be used as a connector. As your team conducts its search, encourage them to discard none of their ideas, to jot down anything that strikes them as being a connector (even if it seems to be a crazy idea!), to write down as many possibilities as possible, and to partner with a team member who might challenge them to look at products in ways they have not thought about. These are the basic principles of creative idea generation, which you’ll find on page 9 of Road Map, one of your official program materials. You’ll find a complete description of the ABC brainstorming tool on page 62 of Road Map.

Consider using this same activity at different types of stores, such as a home improvement center, a craft store, or an office supply store. If you can’t visit the store in person, visit shopping Web sites. Ask students to look for extenders and controllers, too. Generate another list including tools and specialized equipment that are necessary to work with these materials. For example, it is often helpful to use pliers with wire.

Below is an example of how the ABC brainstorming tool can be used to discover connector possibilities at a fabric store. Note that you don’t have to use all letters of the alphabet, but instead as many as you can. Many of these products are also extenders or controllers, depending on how they are used.

A – adhesive tape

B – brads, buckles, beading cord, barrel clasps, bobby pins, bar pins, buttons, bra extenders, binding clips

C – craft glue, chain, chenille stems, cotton belting, cord, clothesline, clip rings, cable cord

D – double-sided tape, duct tape, doll joints, D-rings, decorator nails

E – eyelets, E-6000 adhesive, embroidery floss, elastic

F – floral tape, foam mounting tape, felt glue, fabric glue, foam glue, fusible bond tape

G – glue sticks, gem glue, grommets, gum

H – hemp cord, hooks & eyes, heat set fabric glue

I – interfacing (fusible)

J – jewelry findings, jump rings, jute

K –

L – laminating pouches, lobster clasps, leather cord, lanyard hooks

M – Mod Podge, magnets, mending tape

N –

O –

P – paddle wire, poster putty, pins

Q – quilter’s tape

R – ribbon, raffia

S – stem wire, screw posts, super glue, spring rings, safety pins, split rings, stretchy cord, snap fasteners, swivel clasps

T – twine, transparent tape, tacky glue, toggle clasps, thread, thumb tacks

U –

V – Velcro®

W – wire

X – Xyron adhesives

Y – yarn

Z – Zots (adhesive dots), zippers

 

Post written by Judy Nolan, Co-Affiliate Training Director

Note: Image provided by Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Choosing paint products that work

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Oct 172011
 

It has been years since I managed a team, but I still recall the intense discussions my team of middle school boys held about what paint products to use for their Team Challenge. Their discussions revolved about budget concerns, setting priorities, research and development, and safety issues. Sounds a lot like the issues facing adults daily, doesn’t it?

Let’s take a look at the above areas, and see how that affects a team’s selection of paint or, basically, liquid color products that work for their solution.

Budget. Every Team Challenge, with the exception of the improv Challenge (News to Me), has a stated Team Budget that the team cannot exceed for the materials it uses in the team’s solution. This Team Budget reflects the dollars it would take for another team to duplicate your team’s solution and use it for the Presentation, not the number of dollars your team actually spends to create the solution. Paint products can represent a sizeable portion of the team’s budget, depending on the type of paint products used, where they are bought, and the amount of paint that is used. For example, teams typically use tempera paint (water-based paint often found in a school setting), house paint (latex-based paint) and craft paint (acrylic paint), in addition to felt-tipped markers, spray paint and dyes. While teams can certainly use donated products, they still have to research the cost of these items to include in their Expense Report.

A useful activity that will help your team take charge of its budget is to:

  1. Have your team generate a list of different kinds of paint products.
  2. Make a list of places where paint products can be purchased. Are any of these online?
  3. Create a table with columns for Product, Source and Price, and compare them.

Setting priorities. Every Team Challenge contains pie charts on its pages that describe how points are awarded for the Central Challenge and Team Choice Elements (previously known as Side Trips). These pie charts may be very helpful in helping your team to set its priorities in terms of manpower (how many people should be dedicated to a particular scoring area), budget (how many dollars to spend or assign a value for materials used), and time (how much time should be allocated for tasks, and in what order).

In Challenge A, Assembly Required, for example, the Central Challenge (which accounts for 60% of the team’s score), scoring areas break down as follows:

  • Product design & usage, 12%
  • Order completion, 42%
  • Equipment, 33%
  • Story, 13%

The Team Choice Elements account for another 15% of the team’s score. Paint products could be used for props, stage set or costuming in any of these areas. Some useful questions for your team to ask itself are the following:

  1. What parts of our solution require paint products?
  2. Is there a relationship between our Team Challenge’s scoring and paint products?
  3. What are some good reasons for spending more dollars on paint products?
  4. What are some good reasons for spending fewer dollars on paint products?

Research and development.  One of the core areas that Destination ImagiNation develops is creativity. Creativity comes about when teams take the time and energy to test many, different and unique possibilities, and to combine possibilities. In terms of paint, this means that students need to research different types of paint, and experiment with them to learn what types of paints work best for various settings and materials. For example, because my team was not allowed to store its props and scenery elements at school, they needed paint products that dried quickly so that painted products could be taken home immediately after a meeting. For many of their meetings, props and scenery had to be dragged to and from a vehicle while it was snowing or raining, so painted items also had to be able to withstand moisture. Through experimentation, the students discovered that for them house paint was a great solution. For a team that wants to apply paint to metal, plastic, fabric or glass surfaces—or to skin—their needs and solutions may be completely different. The point is that students need to do the research and testing, not be spoon-fed with a suggested solution by adults.

Some questions for a team to consider might be:

  1. What  conditions will affect painted surfaces? (For example: moisture, drying time, sticking to unusual surfaces, work site rules, cracking, etc.)
  2. How do we overcome these conditions or work around them?
  3. How can we produce many colors from just a few, in order to save dollars?
  4. What can we develop with paint products that would be unique?
  5. How can we learn about different types of paint products?

A note about Question #5—although a Team Manager  can certainly bring in an “expert” such as an art teacher to discuss different types types of paints, there is no substitute for hands-on experiences, and for students to do the research themselves. Most home improvement centers have videos or tip sheets that explain how to use paint effectively and/or creatively, and the manufacturers of most craft or art paint products have Web sites that explain the same. The juvenile section of every library, as well as the art and crafts section, have books and magazines that discuss many types of paint products.

Safety.  While it is the Team Manager’s responsibility to facilitate a safe environment for teams, it is also the team’s responsibility to seek safe solutions. For example, if a team wants to spray paint props, is appropriate ventilation available? Are some paint products toxic when they come into contact with skin? Are eye goggles, gloves and/or paint shirts or aprons available in order to work with these paint products? How do you clean up spills? A Team Manager or a parent providing personal space for teams, or a school or business providing work space, do have the right to set some rules where personal and property safety are concerned. Some questions for teams to consider are:

  1. How can we use this paint product without damaging property?
  2. How can we use this paint product without hurting people?

If your team is NOT having discussions about its budget, research and development, setting priorities, and safety, ask yourself who is making the team’s decisions. To avoid Interference, one of Destination ImagiNation’s key principles, a team should be making its own decisions. It is perfectly okay, however, for an adult facilitator to ask the team to consider specific issues or working conditions, and to allow the students the time and space to discuss them. Just think: it all began with the paint!

Post written by Judy Nolan, Co-Affiliate Training Director

Note: Paintbrush image provided by Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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The possibilities of hook-and-loop tape

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Oct 102011
 

In the same fashion that folks  Xerox® (photocopy) a document, people Velcro their shoes closed. In both cases, the manufactured product has become so well known that the trade name is used in casual conversation as a verb. In the case of Velcro, its generic name is hook-and-loop fastener, or hook-and-loop tape,  burr fastener, or touch fastener. Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral  invented Velcro in 1948 and patented it in 1955. Although the patent expired in 1978, many countries still recognize the product as a registered trademark.  The Velcro Corporation refers to its line of Velcro products, which can be either sewn, stapled or adhered to other surfaces, as “Velcro® brand hook and loop fasteners.”

The story behind how Velcro came into being is an interesting one. One day George de Mestral came home from a hunting trip in the Alps with his dog, and observed the burrs that kept sticking to his dog’s coat. He examined these burrs, actually the seeds of the burdock plant (commonly known as cockleburs), under a microscope, and noticed that they contain hundreds of tiny hooks, and that they stick to anything with loops, such as his dog’s coat or his socks. De Mestral imagined the possibilities of a fastener product that used this hook-and-loop structure. He began experimenting first with strips of cotton, and then with nylon, which was fairly new at the time. He discovered that when you sew nylon under a hot ultraviolet light, it forms hooks that he thought would be perfect for the hook side of a potential fastener. Then he discovered that when nylon thread is woven in loops and treated with heat, it not only retains its shape, but is resilient. But putting these two textures together was not enough to make them stick; de Mestral found out that the loops had to be cut at just the right height before they would  actually be able to fasten to a hooked surface, but also be removable. In a last ditch effort to make the two textures work together, de Mestral took a pair of scissors to the loops and cut off the tops. Perfect! The two surfaces stuck together securely, but could also be taken apart quickly and easily with a ripping motion.

Thus Velcro was born. The word Velcro comes from the French words for “velours,” or velvet, and “crochet.”

Today’s hook-and-loop fasteners  consist of 2 strips of synthetic materials,  each treated so that when you press the strips together, they hook into each other and form a strong, but removable bond. Unlike the early days, when nylon or a blend of nylon and polyester were used, today’s materials can include such materials as Teflon, glass or plastic resins. There is even a version of Velcro that is clear, water-resistant and can adhere to glass. In the aerospace industry, Velcro consists of Teflon loops, polyester hooks and glass, and is used to keep things from floating away in space. It was the aerospace industry, in fact, that gave Velcro its initial boost when it was used in astronauts’ space suits to help them get into and out of them easily, and then by skiers who had similar challenges. The scuba and marine industry followed suit, and eventually Velcro found its way into the children’s clothing industry.

There are now other manufacturers of hook-and-loop tape, with several variations in its construction. A 66-year-old architect named Leonard Duffy, for example, developed the Slidingly Engaging Fastener over a period of 8 years in a wooden shed in Vermont. His version of hook-and-loop tape is 8 times stronger than the original Velcro, and is soundless when opened or closed. A prosthetics company named Material ConneXion is using his fastener to attach artificial limbs. In addition, 3M makes a fastener called Dual Lock that has mushroom-shaped stems on each side of the tape.

Hook-and-loop tape’s special properties make it perfect for creative problem-solving teams to use in their solutions. It is so strong that a two-inch square can support a 175-pound person. If it is used to bond together two rigid surfaces, the bond is especially strong, and vibration of those surfaces increases the strength of the bond because force is applied evenly to all of the hooks at the same time, causing them to catch the loops on the other side. When at least one of the surfaces is flexible and you try to take the surfaces apart with a peeling action, it’s pretty easy to do so because only a few hooks and loops are involved in the action. Try pulling parallel to the plane surface of the Velcro, and you’ll encounter more resistance because the force you apply is similar to the force you encounter when pressing together two rigid surfaces. What do you think would happen if you used Velcro as a hinge between two rectangles of foam core? What about if you use Velcro between two pieces of fabric? Can you imagine where this would be useful in scenery, or in costumes?

Today Velcro and its variations are used to fasten boxes, packs of materials and collapsible containers; to fasten tools and signs to walls; to fasten fabrics together in clothing and home décor; to close binders, notebooks and scrapbooks. The first artificial heart was held together with Velcro, and astronauts wear a small square of it on their helmets and use it as a nose scratcher during space walks. The product has given rise to the development of a sport known as Velcro jumping, where participants take a running jump and hurl themselves at a Velcro-covered wall. Can you think of other uses? I suspect Iowa’s Destination ImagiNation students can probably generate some innovative uses of hook-and-loop tape.

Post written by Judy Nolan, Co-Affiliate Training Director

Resources:

Mone, Greg. “INVENTION AWARDS The New Velcro.” Popular Science. 14 May 2007. http://www.popsci.com/node/9642

Schwarcz, Dr. Joe. Dr. Joe & What You Didn’t Know: 99 Fascinating Questions About the Chemistry of Everyday Life. Ontario: ECW Press, 2004.

Stephens, Thomas. “How a Swiss invention hooked the world.” swissinfo, a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. 4 January 2007.  http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Home/Archive/How_a_Swiss_invention_hooked_the_world.html?cid=5653568.

“Velcro.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 5 October 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velcro

“Velcro® brand Hook and Loop Fasteners.” Velcro USA, Inc. 2011. http://www.velcro.com

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Manipulating that sheet of paper

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Oct 012011
 

Creative problem solvers continually seek inexpensive materials they can use in creative ways. Among those materials is paper, although of course paper can also be quite expensive, depending on the variety. Paper comes in many types, among them cardboard, whose properties were described in an earlier post (A Lesson from Cardboard). In Destination ImagiNation®, students use cardboard boxes and cardboard tubes, paper plates and paper cups, milk cartons and egg cartons, newspapers, freezer paper, wax paper, filter paper, toilet paper, tissue paper, paper napkins and paper towels, construction paper, wrapping paper, paper bags, card stock and plain sheets of copy paper. You can even make a paste from paper called papier mâché. The list is endless. How students are able to use paper products in their creative efforts is greatly determined by the properties of paper itself, so let’s take a look at those properties, and learn a little bit about how paper is manufactured.

A sheet of paper generally begins in nature, where the raw materials are harvested. The trees of the forest, including  soft woods such as pine and spruce, or hard woods such as eucalyptus, acacia, albizzia and wattle, are chopped down and “chipped” into smaller, more manageable pieces.  Farm fields that produce rice, wheat and straw are sources of paper pulp. Cotton fields supply seed hair for cotton linter used in paper making, and flax fields contribute to the making of linen paper from the bast tissue of the flax stem. Did you know that the spinning of rope, twine and cord produces a hemp waste product that is also used in paper making? Manila fibers used for manila file folders and envelopes come from plantain grown in the Philippine Islands. Recycling of waste paper products plays a role in paper making, too; about 80 percent of waste paper is used to manufacture paper boards (such as chipboard found in books or notebooks).

After raw materials are harvested, they go through the pulp making process. A cooking process removes lignin (used to bind wood fibers together) and other impurities, and then a special liquor is added to the chip batch under pressure. The chips are washed and cooked, and waste products are removed. Then the pulp undergoes bleaching, which produces the white appearance of many papers we use. Additives such as talcum and calcium carbonate  make the paper brighter, while dyes add color and starch is a binding agent. Other additives include titanium dioxide, barium sulphate and zinc sulphide. Once the additive process is finished, the paper pulp is run through a wire mesh called a fourdriner, which removes most of the water. A roller applies pressure to the pulp to smooth it out. The paper product is transferred to a felt blanket that moves it through steam-heated dryers, removing any remaining moisture. A glaze-like coating is added, and then the paper passes through calendar stacks, a type of polished iron rolling system in which the rollers are stacked one on top of the other. This process does the final smoothing of the paper before it is wound on metal or fiber cores. The paper is then cut into sheets, packed and tested.

During the manufacturing process, various properties are built into paper that affect its appearance and use. These include basis weight; brightness, whiteness and color; bulk; dimensional stability; folding endurance; formation; gloss; machine and cross direction; moisture; opacity; porosity; sizing; smoothness; stiffness; stretch; tearing resistance; temperature and humidity (conditioning); thickness; surface strength, and the wire side and felt side. Obviously, this post is not designed to make you a technical expert about all of these factors, but an awareness of some of these terms will serve Destination ImagiNation® teams well when choosing the types of paper they wish to manipulate.

Basis weight. All sheets of paper have a basis weight, or weight per unit area. The higher the basis weight, the heavier the paper. Moisture content affects paper weight. What happens to paper when it becomes wet? What are the advantages of using 20-lb paper (copy paper) to 80-lb paper (card stock)? What are the disadvantages?

Bulk. Bulk refers to how thick a piece of paper is in relationship to its weight. When you decrease the bulk of paper, you increase its density, or its weight per unit volume. An increase in density means the paper gets glossier, smoother, less opaque (more light shines through), darker, and lower in strength. What are some thicker paper products? What are some thinner ones?

Dimensional stability. Dimensional stability refers to how much or little the size of a sheet of paper changes when it is exposed to moisture. Did you know that all papers expand or contract, depending on the amount of moisture to which they are exposed? Did you know that the rate at which paper expands or contracts depends on the type of paper? Test this with different types of paper. What happens when you use cardboard or paper for your props and it rains? What happens if you use watercolors, acrylic paint, or latex paint on paper? What about glue?

Folding endurance. Folding endurance is the ability of paper to withstand being folded repeated times before it breaks down and tears. What are the advantages to folding thin paper versus thick paper? What are the disadvantages? How can you use paper folding in Destination ImagiNation®? What could you make? (Hint: Visit your local library’s juvenile section and check out books similar to The Usborne Book of Papercraft,  or The Michaels Book of Paper Crafts.) How do you think folding endurance is related to two other properties of paper, stiffness and stretch? What are the advantages (and disadvantages) of crumpling a piece of paper?

Machine and cross direction. The way that paper travels through the machine during the manufacturing process creates what is called a machine direction, or grain. The cross direction, or cross grain, is at right angles to the machine direction. When you fold paper or try to curve it in one direction, it is usually easier to fold parallel to the grain. Try this with different types of paper. You will encounter a little more resistance when you fold cross-grain. Is it easier to fold an index card the long way or the short way? What about a newspaper sheet? A sheet of copy paper?

Opacity. Opacity refers to how much light passes through a sheet of paper. The higher the opacity, the less light shines through. How could you use the opacity of paper in Destination ImagiNation®? What items could you make from paper that use this property?

Porosity. Porosity refers to how much moisture or air can pass through the individual fibers of the paper. This is extremely important to how the paper is used. The more porous paper is, the more moisture or air can pass through it. Try blowing air or pouring water through various types of papers, such as a paper towel, a glossy magazine page, a coffee filter and an ordinary sheet of copy paper. What happens? How can you make paper less porous? How can you use this paper property in Destination ImagiNation®?

Stiffness. Stiffness is the amount of force required to bend paper at a specific angle. It is affected by the thickness of paper, but also by how paper is shaped. Try this experiment with equal-sized sheets of copy paper and card stock. Build a vertical structure in the highest direction possible in these shapes: a tube, a triangle, and a square. (You can use a single piece of tape to secure the edges.) Then, balance a book on top of each structure. What happens? Try this experiment again, but this time fold a sheet of copy paper like an accordion, and do the same with a sheet of card stock. What happens this time? Does the height of the accordion folds make a difference?

Stretch. Stretch is the amount of distortion that paper goes through when it is affected by stress. Usually, that means that paper tears or ruptures when it is affected by too much stress (such as weight or pressure). Stretch is higher in the cross direction than the machine direction, but it is also affected by the type of paper used. What uses of paper in industry can you imagine where stretch would be important to think about?

Tearing resistance. Tearing resistance refers to how paper behaves when it encounters resistance, whether it tears or not. Earlier, we discussed how folding a piece of paper is easier when you fold with the grain instead of against it. What happens when you try to tear paper with the grain? Against the grain? What happens if the paper is damp and you try to tear it? Can you control it? Does the shape of a piece of paper affect its tearing resistance? (Cut different shapes, such as a rectangle or circle, and try to tear them.) What has greater tearing resistance—a paper towel, newspaper or index card?

As you explore creative ways to use paper for your Team Challenges, consider these questions in addition to the ones already asked:

  1. How many types of paper can you list?
  2. What are some recycled paper products you can use?
  3. Where can you buy paper products?
  4. How many ways can you think of changing the appearance of paper?
  5. How many ways can you think of reshaping paper?
  6. What new skills can you learn to manipulate paper?
  7. Learn how to make your own paper by using a resource book or a video. How would you use homemade paper in your Team Challenge?
  8. What are some paper crafting tools and adhesives that you would find handy? (Go to a craft or hobby store and explore the aisles.)

 Post written by Judy Nolan, Co-Affiliate Training Director

Resources:

“A to Z of Paper.” Ballapur Industries Limited.  2003, http://www.biltpaper.com.

Cusick, Dawn and Megan Kirby, eds. The Michaels Book of Paper Crafts. New York: Lark Books, 2005.

Fix, Alexandra. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Paper. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2008.

Perrins, Lesley. How Paper Is Made. New York: Facts on File-Threshold Books Limited, 1985.

Salvadori, Mario. The Art of Construction: Projects and Principles for Beginning Engineers & Architects. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1990.

Smith, Alastair, ed. The Usborne Book of Papercraft. Tulsa: EDC Publishing, 2001.

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Don’t Eat That!

 season kickoff, team support  Comments Off
Sep 262011
 

Do you remember when your mom told you to not eat the glue? I will assume that you know what substance she was referring to (and that you did not in fact eat it). But, can you give me a definition of glue? The general definition of glue is “any fluid adhesive,” yet there is not a single component that is common to all glues. Given the actually wide and varied category of adhesives referred to as glue, let’s just focus on some commonly used types.

With a name like “super” glue, one tends to expect a lot from this acrylic resin. I am sure more than just one team member has super glued their fingers together or to some other object. Super glue has so much tack (stickiness) due to the long, strong bonds it forms with ions in water. Super glue can work with a bunch of different materials, because water is present in most everything. However, it is strongest when bonding metal to metal. Speed is another key factor in the “super” qualities of this adhesive. It takes merely a few seconds to bond surfaces together. So how strong is it? Check THIS out.

Another favorite with our creative problem solvers is hot glue. Officially known as hot melt adhesive, hot glue needs a heat source (usually served by a hot glue gun) to cause the solid adhesive to become fluid. The hot glue is heated to temperatures between 250oF and 380oF. The hotter the glue becomes, the stronger the bond will be. Yet, lower temperature glues are better for delicate materials. Hot glue has high viscosity (thickness) and high resistance, which makes it a good filler as well as an adhesive.

Polyvinyl acetate (PVA) is more commonly known as wood or carpenter’s glue. This glue is great for porous materials, because it can form “hooks” into the dimples in the material adding strength to the bond. PVA glues require pressure and time to set (to form the bond). If wood glue has had the proper pressure, time, and amount, then it is actually stronger than the wood is bonding.

One of the most important things in having a strong bond is the type of materials trying to be glued together. Finding the proper glue can make all the difference between something lasting all the way to Globals or something falling apart at the first practice. Carpenter’s glue would not work well bonding metal, for example. A resource worth checking out is “This to That”: this site will help you figure out the appropriate adhesive.

 Some other key factors to consider before you are busy gluing:

  • How much glue do you need? What good does glue coming out from the sides of the object do you?
  • How evenly did the glue get spread? Test gluing two surfaces to together with the same amount on each half and then test putting more glue on one half versus the other.
  • What safety precautions do you need to take? If using super glue, how will you un-glue your fingers? If using hot melt adhesive, how will you avoid burning?
  • Do you need new glue? Glues, like food, go bad relatively quickly after opening (think of your cereal or chips going stale if the package is left open). Old glue is going to provide weaker bonds than fresh glue.

 And one more thing: glue does not taste good, so don’t even try to eat it.

                                                                                                  Post written by Alisha Heisterkamp, Co-Affiliate Director

 

Resources

“Hot Glue”. Absolute Astronomy. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Hot_glue

“10 Fun Facts About Super Glue”. Super Glue Corporation. http://www.supergluecorp.com/blog/2010/05/17/10-fun-facts-about-super-glue/

“Glue Strength”. Woodworking Tips. http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip40.html

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