team support » Students for a Creative Iowa

2011-12 Iowa T-Shirt Pre-Order

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Dec 282011

Students for a Creative Iowa is always striving to provide the best support possible to our teams and so we are trying something new. This year cre8iowa is offering a pre-sale on the 2011-2012 state t-shirts. This year’s winning design was Legendary Creativity (see right), this design will be placed on a bright red t-shirt. A change to this year’s shirt from past years is that the back will be blank, so that your team can extend your creativity to the Iowa shirt. Celebrate your team or school, celebrate Iowa, celebrate DI, celebrate whatever you want on your shirt! We will be hosting a parade of shirt designs at closing ceremony at the State Tournament for anyone who has decorated the back of the Iowa State t-shirt (more details will be provided closer to the tournament date). Please note that Students for a Creative Iowa is planning on ordering a set number of shirts and so please plan accordingly.

In order to pre-order, you must fill out the order form (link below) completely by January 28^th 2012. Once your pre-order has been received, you will receive an email from cre8iowa letting you know if the desired t-shirt size(s) and quantities are available and providing you with the official total. At that time you will be asked to mail in your check or purchase order for the total amount, which must arrive within 10 days to the address below. Note: We can offer the 2011-12 affiliate shirt for $10 per shirt.

Students for a Creative Iowa—Pre-Order

Attn: Sharon Wallace

1656 W. 42^nd St. Apt. 2

Davenport, IA, 52806

Once payment has been received, you will receive an order confirmation email from cre8iowa.

You will be able to pick up at the sales table at the Sub-State Tournament on March 3^rd. Pick-ups may only be done by the person placing the order or other approved person named on this form. No other person may pick up the shirts.

You can find the order form here: 11-12 Pre-Order Form

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at cre8iowa@gmail.com.

Instant Challenger registration opens TODAY

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Dec 062011

As all experienced Destination ImagiNation® teams know, a key component to doing well at any Tournament is being able to solve Instant Challenges effectively. On-the-spot problem-solving is not, however, an instantly-learned skill. Your teams can learn how to approach performance and task-based Instant Challenges at cre8iowa’s annual Instant Challenger team workshop on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at Ames Middle School for $20 a team.

At this popular workshop, each team is given individualized attention for a period of 2 hours, beginning at 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., or 1:30 p.m. Once your team arrives, it will split its time between 2 rooms, one in which performance-based Instant Challenges are practiced and feedback is provided by experienced DI volunteers, and another room in which task-based Instant Challenges are practiced.

You can request a reservation for your team at either 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., or 1:30 p.m., listing a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. Once your reservation request is received, you will receive an email from cre8iowa, letting you know whether the time you requested is available. Then you will be asked to mail in your check or purchase order for $20 a team, which must arrive within 10 days. Your reservation is not CONFIRMED until payment arrives. If payment does not arrive within 10 days, you may lose your team’s spot to the next team on the waiting list.

This registration form needs to be completed for each team you register. Registrations are non-refundable, unless bad weather conditions prevent your team’s attendance, and you notify cre8iowa@gmail.com no later than 24 hours following the Instant Challenger.

Please note that teams MUST be accompanied by an adult. If you have multiple teams, they will be in different rooms, so you will need to arrange for adult accompaniment.

Click HERE to reserve a spot for your team.

Questions? Contact Judy Nolan at judynolan@aol.com.

DI Tech Do’s and Don’ts

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Nov 282011

There is no getting around it, technology is everywhere! Think about when you are walking down a busy street or hallway: how many people do you see with cell phones? How many do you see with a music playing device such as an MP3 player? How many individuals do you know that have a computer? How many persons do you know that regularly surf the internet or check their emails or social media sites? If you are like me, the answer is A LOT. If you are also like me, then you love having all of that technology at your fingertips. But do you know how to use all the convenient technology for and in the Destination Imagination® program? Well, here are a few ideas you can think about/use.

Type-Written versus Handwritten

One of the most obvious ways to use the technology is by typing versus handwriting. Whether it be typing on a computer or even on a typewriter, typing helps make any document legible (aka easy to read). Often times, handwritten words can be hard to make out, because of ink/pencil smudges or poor penmanship.

Try at the end of each meeting to have someone type up the notes from that meeting. Then at the beginning of the next one, go over the notes and make sure that nothing is missing. This helps you keep track of what has been decided and what ideas you had before, just in case you need to go back. Keeping and reviewing notes is such a useful activity, the board of Students for a Creative Iowa (cre8iowa) does this at every meeting. Another benefit of typing your notes on the computer is you are less likely to lose those notes completely as you can save the file electronically and print it to have a hard copy.
You should be using the electronic fillable registration forms and tournament documents. Both cre8iowa and Destination Imagination offer all the documents in a form that you can type into versus printing and handwriting onto it. Go HERE for the fillable Iowa Membership Forms. Go to the IDODI Resource Area for the tournament forms. Trust me, it’s worth doing as it makes the lives of the appraisers and tournament officials easier which makes it easier for them to help you and/or give your team points!

Social Media

Many of us use social media sites to communicate with friends and family. But have you thought of using social media for your DI team?

As you can see, blogs can be a great means of sharing information. There are several sites that allow you to put together a private blog which allows only certain people to see it (do an online search for ‘private blog’ for more information). A private blog would be a good way to share and keep track of meeting notes, ideas, materials, or research.
The free site, Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/about/), is another potential resource. Pinterest is a virtual board that lets you organize and collect all the images you think are inspiring, cool, or informative. By creating an account you can find, share, and save pictures with others. Try to collect images that help you out with your challenge, whether that is for set design ideas, for research, or something else that you decide.
Remember the Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/), another potential website resource for DI teams, is a task management site. As a registered user, you can set deadlines for tasks and get reminders about them on your computer or mobile device. Need to remember to pick up more materials, schedule it for the next meeting! Need to remember to get the Iowa Membership Registration forms filled out, make a deadline for it!
What else can you do with popular social media sites? Can you use them to recruit or fund raise? Can you use them to plan and prepare your solution? Utilize your imagination to come up with your own uses.

Rules of the Road

The “law” of DI is spelled out in the Rules of the Road, including official uses and limitations. Although lengthy, this is a vital document that your team needs to know. But here are some highlights from Rules of the Road that deal directly with what tech can and cannot do in your solution.

Are you aware that some pieces of technology are exempt from getting put on the Expense Report? Devices such as MP3 players, DVD players, portable speakers and amplifiers, laptops, tablets, PDAs, and TVs are all exempt as long as you do not modify them. For a more complete list of exempt devices take a look at page 19. All other devices or listed devices that are modified must be given a fair value on the Expense Report. While you can use commercially available devices, I would recommend trying to create your own bit of technology (see the next sections for more information).
Even once you figure out whether your device is exempt or not, you need to be careful of the power source. On page 22, the ‘Rules of the Road’ lists different limitations on the use of electricity. Devices that require Direct Current (DC), which is typically batteries, cannot have voltage that exceeds 28VDC for safety reasons. If your device uses over 10 amps of electricity, you must have a current-limiting device, such as a circuit breaker, that can serve as an emergency shut off. Otherwise, to be able to use batteries for your tech device, they must be unmodified and commercially available, such as your normal AA or AAA batteries. To use Alternating Current (AC) power, which is typically done by a wall sockets, you must make sure you either have a Ground-Fault Interrupter (GFI) or not go over 120VAC. The AC rule especially applies to homemade devices. Remember any tournament official can stop a performance if they feel like anything is unsafe. So be safe and follow all of the rules!
For Instant Challenge, technology is a bit of an enemy. Specifically, you are not allowed to have anything that beeps or makes noise, such as a timer on a wristwatch or a cell phone, so just shut off all of your pieces of tech. This rule is an important one to remember in practice, that way you are less likely to have something that beeps during the tournament.

Technical Elements

Remember my recommendation about making your own device? The gist of the recommendation is due to the fact that it is more creative and innovative to create your own device versus buying one from the store. And the more creative and innovative you are, the more likely you are of receiving high scores. In most of all the Challenges, there is at least one technical element required or a technical opportunity that directly gets your team points.

Challenge A: ‘Equipment’ worth up to 80 points and ‘Product Design and Usage’ worth up to 30 points; which is 45% of the total Team Challenge score.
Challenge B: ‘Solar Energy Prototype’ worth up to 90 points and ‘Theatrical Lighting’ worth up to 70 points; which is 67% of the total Team Challenge score.
Challenge C: ‘Cinematic Special Effect’ worth up to 50 points and ‘Original Soundtrack’ worth up to 40 points; which is 38% of the total Team Challenge score.
Challenge E: ‘Design and Building of Structure’ is part of the structure Weight Held Category worth up to 140 points and ‘Golf Ball Delivery’ worth up to 40 points; which is 75% of the total Team Challenge score.
Team Choice Elements, formerly known as Side Trips, are 15% of a team’s overall score. As the name implies, the team gets to choose two creations to receive score (up to 60 points) appraised on creativity/originality, quality/effort/workmanship, and integration into the Team Challenge.

Plagiarism

While technology makes a wide variety of tools easily available, it also makes it easier to plagiarize. Plagiarism is when someone uses another’s idea or thought as their own. Sometimes it is accidental and sometimes it is intentional, but either way plagiarism is stealing. To make sure you do not plagiarize, give credit to the person that came up with the idea. This is especially important to keep straight in research, where information from many different sources gets combined.

What other ways can you use technology? Can you integrate it into your set? Can you make it a part of your skit? Can you use it to make your practices more effective?

Post written by Alisha Heisterkamp, Co-Affiliate Director

Image courtesy of Piyaphantawong/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Thinking Critically in DI

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Nov 142011

Last week we talked about critical thinking skills in general, this time we are going to discuss how critical thinking ties directly into the Destination ImagiNation® program. Critical thinking is so important to Destination ImagiNation, in fact, that it is a part of the logo. The DI Brand Guide offers the official explanation of the box and ball, as follows:

“Our logo and wordmark debuted at the first Destination ImagiNation Global Finals in the spring of 2000.The ball in our logo was designed originally to symbolize team members, who were popping outside of the proverbial box by thinking creative ideas. Red was chosen to represent creativity and energy, and purple was chosen to represent the passion of our participants.

Over time, the box-and-ball logo has come to represent both Destination ImagiNation, Inc. and the Destination ImagiNation program. Additionally, our interpretation of the box-and-ball logo has changed. We now see the box as a symbol of developers—thinkers that prefer structure, think inside the proverbial box, and enjoy conforming to existing expectations and procedures. The ball has come to be a symbol of explorers—thinkers that find structure limiting, think outside the proverbial box, and choose not to conform to existing expectations and procedures. Both in our logo and our program, we recognize and encourage these two very different styles of thinking.”

DI’s emphasis on critical thinking is because it is one side of the creative problem-solving coin with creative thinking as the other. DI jargon calls brainstorming, or creative thinking, the “generating process,” and narrowing down your options, or critical thinking, the “focusing process.” Generating leads to focusing, which leads to more generating, and the cycle continues. In other words: teams are thinking about thinking when doing the process! The Roadmap, found in your DI Program Materials, re-affirms the dual nature of creative problem-solving by saying that “[creative problem-solving] consists of both creative thinking and critical thinking” (page 8). On the same page, this guide states the importance of using both thinking skill sets, because using both idea-generating tools and idea-focusing tools helps keep a team moving toward a final solution, instead of wandering aimlessly from idea to idea.

It is in this focusing process that one can use the Intellectual Standards of clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness (see last week’s post for more information). By applying the Standards’ questions to your team’s ideas, you can start to focus those ideas according to the focusing categories the DI roadmap lists on page 10:

Organizing and analyzing possibilities

Your team can organize and analyze those possible ideas by questioning their relevance to the problem or goal or scoring element. Then try to group the ideas for a particular problem or scoring element together.

Refining and developing promising possibilities,

Your team can refine and develop the most promising solution ideas by questioning how clear and precise each idea is and if the idea is broad and deep enough to encompass all aspects and views of the problem. Examine each idea within your group and then add to or cut out from the idea anything that in the end makes the idea better. Make sure that your idea can account for other’s (such as the appraisers’) interpretations of a particular problem or idea.

Ranking or prioritizing options

Your team can rank those ideas by questioning if the idea is true and/or doable, if the idea makes sense and follows from the goal, and if the idea has no unfair advantage. Evaluating the ideas in a group and picking just one can be tough, no doubt about it. Your team should think about what they are actually going to be able to accomplish (do they have the proper time, skills, and equipment). The team should double check that the idea does in fact deal with the scoring element (i.e. make sure they refer to the challenge). The team should also make sure that they are not gaining an unfair advantage by using an idea that was not their own (such as from a TM, parent, or another student). If they are, that is an idea that they should not use (see page 17 of the Rules of the Road).

Choosing or deciding on certain options.

If by the end of the process your team is left with two or three ideas and can’t pick just one, try restarting the focusing process to see if you can combine the best parts of each idea into a single solution.

Note: For more information on this generating and focusing process within DI, please look at the Roadmap pages 8 through 11.

Another way DI highlights critical thinking in its program is through the Connecting the Standards. This document (found HERE) points out what core areas the program intends to develop in its participants. One of those core areas is thinking and reasoning standards aka critical thinking. These skills are educational standards, because the ability to think critically is an important skill for everyday life (see The Critical Thinking Skills). Check out the below chart from the Connecting the Standards page 6.

As you can see, using critical thinking skills is essential to each and every one of the Challenges, including Instant Challenge.

One of the areas that DI is stressing critical thinking more overtly is Instant Challenge. While Students for a Creative Iowa is currently working on developing some of the critical thinking ICs for our 2012 Instant Challenger to be held on January 14^th (check on our website for more details), there are very few such ICs currently in existence. But that does not stop your team from creating your own! Check out our IC Library and try to modify one of those IC so that it involves more critical thinking. Or just use that as a template to make your very own! Remember, any good critical thinking IC will have more than one way to solve its puzzle.

Hopefully, you now know why critical thinking is so important! For more information and ideas on how to develop critically thinking skills with your DI team check out The Critical Thinking Community and especially their K-12 Instruction Strategies and Samples (CT Strategies and Samples).

For a scholarly article talking more about the importance of critical and creative thinking and the DI program, you can purchase “Building Creative Excellence” by Donald J. Treffinger and Grover C. Young from ShopDI for $1.00. Go HERE for more information.

Post Written by Alisha Heisterkamp, Co-Affiliate Director

The Critical Thinking Skills

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Nov 072011

Very few other programs champion creative thinking like Destination ImagiNation®. However, to only focus on this one thinking skill set is a mistake. Critical thinking, which includes logic, is a very important skill set to have and essential for creative problem-solving. But what is critical thinking?

Historically, critical thinking was considered to include the following: reasoning, analyzing, evaluating, decision making, and problem solving. While critical thinking is in part made up of those skills, there are other ways to examine critical thinking. Richard Paul, the Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking, said that one way to think of critical thinking is as thinking that analyzes, assesses, and transforms a thought for the better. For example, one is critically thinking when one examines an object, then takes that object and changes it for the better. Mr. Paul also said that “critical thinking is not one isolated skill. It is not even a random list of skills. It’s an orchestrated way of thinking . . . [it’s] a way of being in the world in which the thinker self-monitors and self-assesses.” In other words, critical thinking is also part meta-cognition (thinking about thinking). A person needs to be aware of what and why they are having that thought to be good at critically thinking. The author of the book “Brain Building,” Dr. Karl Albrecht, says that such thinking is not a magical process or a matter of being smart, but it is a learned mental process. In order to be good at thinking critically, one must practice being aware of their own thoughts and the reasons behind them. Dr. Ibrahim Syed, President of the Islamic Research Foundation, also supports the position that critical thinking is a different way to approach ideas, solutions, problems, and decision making. Dr. Syed defines critical thinking as reflective skepticism. When we are thinking critically, we need to be skeptical of the proposed idea, so that we do not fall by the wayside and just accept the idea as the best it could be.

In order to be reflectively skeptical, we need to apply what the Foundation for Critical Thinking calls the Intellectual Standards. Using the standards brings about questions that can be asked of an idea or solution in order to make that idea or solution better. Below is each of the standards and the questions one can ask.

Clarity: is it clear? Can you elaborate further on the solution? Can you express the idea in a different way? Can you give an example? Can you provide a picture?
Accuracy: is it accurate? Is the solution doable in a given situation? Can you check if the idea is true? How would you check if your idea is correct? Can you explain how the idea/solution addresses the problem or goal?
Precision: is it precise? Can you clarify the idea further? Can you add more detail or description to your solution? Can you cut something out and the idea is still accurate and clear?
Relevance: is it relevant? Is any idea connected to the topic at hand? Does your criticism affect the solution or the goal? Do any “improvements” to the solution deal with the goal or problem?
Depth: is it deep enough to address all parts? Have you thought all the way through the idea? Are you dealing with all important components of the solution? Are you dealing with all the components of the problem or goal you are trying to address?
Breadth: is it wide enough to account for other points of view? Have you thought of how others will look at the idea? Are you considering the problem/goal/idea from all angles?
Logic: is it logical? Does the idea make sense? Is the idea a reasonable solution to the problem? How does the solution follow from the goal? Can all your ideas about the situation work together? Are all your ideas about the situation true or correct?
Fairness: is it fair? Does your idea provide equal footing for all involved? Does your idea wrongly discount other points of views? Are you unbiased about the idea, so you can take suggestions to improve the idea?

By applying the Intellectual Standards, with all of their questions, to our thoughts and thought process, we can develop critical thinking skills. If you are thinking to yourself that those sound easy, try it. Try examining a single thought for clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness. Some of the categories are easier than others, right? Now critically examine why some categories are easier or harder to consider about the idea. Now apply the Standards to the reasons you came up with as why some standards are easier or harder. Get the picture? At each step, one needs to use the standards all over again. That is because the basis of all logical thinking is sequential thought. Dr. Albrecht explains sequential thinking as a process of “taking the important ideas, facts, and conclusions involved in a problem and arranging them in a chain-like progression that takes on a [new] meaning in and of itself.” This sequential thinking allows one to build a chain from the beginning idea all the way to the final solution that is easy to follow. At each point in the chain, the solution should be getting better as more questions are answered and dealt with. Does this process remind you of any other process, say like one where a team works on a solution to a challenge over several months?

While developing critical thinking as a mental process may be hard work, it is a vital. Logic is the foundation for all mathematics; everything from counting change to calculus relies upon the ability to think sequentially. Not only does it provide a method to arrive at a solution, but critical thinking can also empower an individual to try harder to understand and explain the methods used to arrive at an answer. Instead of just giving up and answering “it’s too difficult”, a person is more likely to use those critical thinking skills to figure out how someone came to that answer. Dr. Syed summarized the importance of critical thinking as “what is lacking [in our information driven society] is the ability to evaluate ideas in a constructive manner.” We seem to be experiencing information overload, because people do not have the critical thinking skills to sort and evaluate all the new concepts taken in through all the different types of media. But, being able to examine information and come to an accurate, clear, reasonable, precise, relevant, fair, and expansive conclusion based on that information allows an individual to make good choices for not only the present situation, but also the future.

Now what does all of this have to do with DI? Try asking yourself the following questions. Are there any ways that critical thinking and creative thinking are connected? How can your team use the Intellectual Standards to focus all of your unique ideas? Think I am wrong and DI is only about creative thinking? Try checking out the DI program materials. I’ll tell you more about DI and critical thinking, next week at the same creative time, same creative channel.

Post written by Alisha Heisterkamp, Co-Affiliate Director

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Resources:

Paul, Richard. “Critical Thinking in Every Domain of Knowledge and Belief.” Center for Critical Thinking. 27th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking Keynote Address. 23 July 2007. http://www.criticalthinking.org/

Albrecht, Karl. Brain Building: Easy Games to Develop Your Problem Solving Skills. Prentice Hall Trade: 1992.

Syed, Ibrahim B. “Critical Thinking.” Islamic Research Foundation International. http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_101_150/critical_thinking.htm

The Value of Games

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Nov 012011

Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles—Bernard Suits

Contrary to what popular media or exasperated parents may say, playing games can be a valuable experience. At least that is the claim contended by Jane McGonigal in Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. While this blog is by no means a complete review of McGonigal’s new book, we will cover and discuss some of her major points.

According to McGonigal, all games have four defining elements.

Goal: a specific outcome that all players work to achieve which provides a sense of purpose.
Rules: place limitations on the players, forcing them to foster strategic and creative thinking.
Feedback: a system that informs just how close the players are to achieving the Goal and so promises the goal is achievable and motivates the players to achieve it.
Voluntary Participation: players knowingly and willingly accept the other core elements which in turn provides common ground and establishes the hard work as an enjoyable activity.

As you can see by the core elements, games enable players to learn and practice different skill sets. Playing games helps players develop a sense of purpose, think in creative and strategic ways, come to understand achievable goals, become motivated to attempt those achievements, find common ground with others, and recognize the challenging work as worthwhile.

But the core elements aren’t the only ways games are beneficial. McGonigal explains how games can optimize human experiences by activating extreme positive emotions unlikely to be experienced in normal life. In our everyday lives, I doubt any of us usually do extraordinary feats such as slaying a dragon or single handedly saving thousands of people, but in games it is possible. Accomplishing that amazing feat can make us feel intense feelings of enjoyment and achievement which encourage us to try to do other extraordinary feats including in real life. Games can also allow us to strengthen our social connectedness by letting us collaborate for longer periods of time and take risks. Because we engage in games in safe environments, we are willing to practice assessing risk versus reward situations and taking risks. We also tend to engage in such fun and safe activities for longer periods of time; giving us more time to try out these new skills. Additionally, games have the potential to save the world by bringing thousands of people together to solve real-world problems pro-bono. In fact, gamers already have: Gamers Solve Molecular Puzzle that Baffled Scientists

So what does any of this have to do with the Destination ImagiNation® program? According to the definition of a game, Destination ImagiNation is one. By participating in DI, team members are trying new and different ideas, skills, and situations that will help them in life. More than that, playing games can help your teams develop and learn skills necessary for DI. For example, playing games can help the team practice deciding if they should go with an untested but unique idea or with a standard one known to constantly work. Encourage your teams to play creative, teamwork, or problem solving based games, such as Taboo or Catch Phrase!, and puzzle games such as Minesweeper, Qwirkle, or Xactika. For more ideas on what other fun things to do with your team check out ”12 Summer Tips” (I promise they are still good even if it’s no longer summer).

For more information about the potential of games not discussed here, check out Jane McGonigal’s book, Reality is Broken.

Also check out this video by Aaron Dignan about the importance of play: How to Use Games to Excel at Life and Work

Post Written by Alisha Heisterkamp, Co-Affiliate Director

Basic Training Podcast now available; register for Advanced Workshop

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Oct 302011

New this year is an online training podcast that allows all Team Managers and Coordinators to get up-to-speed quickly about the essentials of the program. There is information in this podcast that benefits both new and returning facilitators. This training is now included as part of your Iowa membership package, so please take advantage of it. You can get to the podcast HERE. You can also visit the 2011-2012 Season tab on the navigation bar, and select Team Manager & Coordinator Training.

This new online format was prompted by a desire to encourage ALL of our facilitators to take advantage of annual Team Manager & Coordinator Training. Without this training, misunderstandings often take place, and this becomes evident at the Tournament level. In an effort to make sure everyone is on the same page, Students for a Creative Iowa has decided to offer Basic Training to Team Managers and Coordinators online so that you can get the information you need at a time that is convenient for you, without having to drive for hours to a training location.

Please note that there will still be a face-to-face training workshop in Ames on Saturday, December 3^rd, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. This workshop does NOT duplicate the information in the podcast, but will instead cover more advanced topics, as follows:

Brainstorming Tools Your Team Can Use
Decision-Making Tools Your Team Can Use
Help Your Team Understand How to Make Materials Work
Developing Skill Sets for Your Team Challenge
Q & A with the Challenge Masters

We ask you to register in advance so that we will know how many people to expect and so that we’ll have working materials on hand for everyone. If you are interested, please register HERE no later than Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. There is no additional charge for this face-to-face workshop, as it is included in your Iowa membership fee.

We welcome your feedback about this new training format.

Judy Nolan
Affiliate Training Director for Team-Related Concerns
E-mail: judynolan@aol.com or cre8iowa@gmail.com

Sewing notions: a variety of connectors

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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 2^nd 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

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:

Have your team generate a list of different kinds of paint products.
Make a list of places where paint products can be purchased. Are any of these online?
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:

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

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

How can we use this paint product without damaging property?
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

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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