ABOUT US WHO WE ARE Student teams solve open-ended Challenges and present their solutions at tournaments Teams learn important life skills like time management, collaboration, conflict resolution, and creative and critical thinking

OUR IMPACT WHO WE ARE 125,00 participants annually 1.5 million alumni 38,000 volunteers worldwide 48 States & 30 countries

Up to 7 members can be on a team Students from kindergarten through university level participate Each team needs an adult Team Manager (must be 18 years old) Team Managers help students stay on track but do not directly help the team develop their solution to the DI Challenge Team Managers for Beachwood teams are parents WHO PROGRAM OVERVIEW

There are seven new Challenges to choose from each year Each of the Challenges is developed by a team of educators and industry experts who target a particular area of the curriculum and its related standards of content and performance. The areas of focus include: Technical, Scientific, Fine Arts, Improvisational, Structural and Service Learning There is also a non-competitive Early Learning Challenge WHAT PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Each season takes place from September through May Depending on the Challenge, teams typically spend 4 to 6 months developing and practicing their Challenge solutions WHEN PROGRAM OVERVIEW

WHERE The team’s solutions are assessed at regional, state or country tournaments Beachwood runs DI as an after school program Every year, local volunteers help run 200+ tournaments around the world PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Each challenge is designed to teach students: Critical Thinking, Creative Expression, Team Collaboration, Interpersonal Communication, Presentation Skills, Time Management, Perseverance, Risk Taking, Stages of the Creative Process and Self-directed Learning. Our participants experience the creative process, develop new friendships and learn to work together WHY PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Teams choose one of seven Challenges After months spent creating and developing their solutions, they go to a tournament Top-scoring teams advance, and the top tier goes to our Global Finals tournament—the world’s largest celebration of creativity 15,000+ attend Global Finals HOW PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Technical The world is yours. The choice is yours. Take action! Find your creature and begin the great adventure! Points of Interest - Build a creature that uses technical methods to perform team-chosen actions. - Present a story of adventure with the creature as a character. - Use technical methods to demonstrate features of a world where the story is set. - Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents. A: TECHNICAL TEAM CHALLENGES

Scientific Hey, slow it down! NO, wait, speed it up! At this rate, how will your incredible sound machine EVER produce sounds? Points of Interest - Design and construct an incredible sound machine that produces two different sounds. - Create and integrate two visible displays of sound waves into the presentation. - Create and present a story that includes a change to a faster or slower narrative pace. - Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents. B: SCIENCE TEAM CHALLENGES

Fine Arts Phobophobia is the fear of being afraid. The question is: What are you afraid of? Anything is possible in your team’s Feary Tale Points of Interest - Present a team-created fairy tale about a character that faces and deals with a phobia. - Create an expressive artwork that conveys a thought or feeling. - Create a functional artwork that serves a practical function. - Design and create an illusion that makes the impossible seem possible. - Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents. C: FINE ARTS TEAM CHALLENGES

Improvisational With street performance as your tool, may the odds be ever in your favor… in The Improv Games. Points of Interest - Create three independent improvisational sketches. - Research and incorporate improvisational games and street performances. - Practice integrating randomly selected situations and settings. D: IMPROVISATIONAL TEAM CHALLENGES

Structural Remove the weight and transform your thinking. Sometimes, you have to Lose to Win. Points of Interest - Design and build the lightest structure possible that continues to support the weight of the pressure board while parts of the structure are removed. - Design and build a removal device that enables you to safely remove the structure parts. - Tell a story about how something is transformed and revealed to be something completely different. - Create a prop or set piece that transforms as parts of it are removed during the presentation. Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents. E: STRUCTURAL TEAM CHALLENGES

Service Learning / Project Outreach ® Round up your team and identify a community need. Once you piece the puzzle together, you will unlock the world of Brand Aid. Points of Interest - Use the creative process to identify, design and carry out a project that addresses at least one real community need. - Use graphic arts and sounds to create an effective brand to help meet the project goal(s). - Create a live presentation that highlights the project and project evaluation. - Design and create a project puzzle to be put together during the presentation. - Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength and talents. SERVICE LEARNING TEAM CHALLENGES

Early Learning / Rising Stars! ® With a little bit of this and a little bit of that, you’ll mix together two animals and give it the perfect new habitat! Doesn’t it sound like a ROAR-ing good time? Points of Interest - Learn about animal characteristics and their habitats—the home and area in which they live. - Design a new animal and its new habitat. - Construct the animal and its habitat in 3-D, including moving parts on both. - Create a play about the movements your new animal makes and the adjustment your new animal makes in its new habitat. - Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength and talents. EARLY LEARNING TEAM CHALLENGES

At the tournament, teams will solve two types of Challenges: Team Challenges and Instant Challenges Teams will perform their Challenge solutions to a group of Appraisers. Appraisers are local volunteers who have been trained to assess the Challenges Instant Challenges require teams to engage in quick, creative and critical thinking APPRAISING AT THE TOURNAMENT

Instant Challenge Instant Challenges require teams to engage in quick, creative and critical thinking. At a tournament, a team will receive an Instant Challenge and the materials with which to solve it. The team members must think on their feet by applying appropriate skills to produce a solution in a period of just five to eight minutes. In a world with growing cultural connections, increased levels and types of communication, and a new need for real-time teamwork and problem solving, the ability to solve problems quickly is becoming increasingly critical. AT THE TOURNAMENT INSTANT CHALLENGES

AT THE TOURNAMENT INSTANT CHALLENGES Instant Challenges are performance- based, task-based, or a combination of the two. Although each Instant Challenge has different requirements, all Instant Challenges reward teams for their teamwork and the creativity of their solutions. Instant Challenges are kept confidential until the day of the Tournament.

Challenge: Build the tallest possible structure, place a feather on the top and then blow the feather off to land as far away as possible. Time: You have 5 minutes to use your teamwork, creativity and innovation skills to build the structure with the materials provided. You will then have one chance to blow the feather as far as you can. The Scene: You have been asked to build a new prop for the sequel to The Muppets. The structure must be as tall as possible so that the feather can fly a long distance. (Note: the structure must be free-standing on the table top) After the 5 minute build-time, the height of the structure will be measured. You will then place the feather on the top of the structure and with one large puff of air, see how far the feather will fly. Materials: aluminum foil, 2 paper clips, 4 straws, 3 sheets paper, 4 pipe cleaners, 1 label, feather FLYING FEATHER INSTANT CHALLENGE

WHAT: Two veteran DI students are offering free drop-in sessions once a month at the Beachwood library for teams looking to get extra practice at instant challenges. WHO: Gaby Rodriguez and Lily Steiger are 9 th graders who have been doing DI every year since 2008 and have been to Global Finals three times. WHY: The more instant challenges your team does, the better you get!! HOW: Bring your whole team and your coach. Lily and Gaby will provide all materials and challenges and will give you constructive tips and advice. WHERE: Beachwood Public Library, Meeting Room B WHEN: Drop in any time from 1-3 pm on the first Sunday of each month except in January. Extra Instant Challenge Help Drop-In Help

What being on a DI team means: General Information Team manager(s) being found for each team! We can only have a team if there is a parent who is willing to be the team manager for that team. (Team Managers ’ training on Saturday, October 25 9:00- 11:00 at Gesu School in University Heights.) Team managers meeting with Mrs. Lewis at the end of September, beginning of October to plan the year, get all of the paperwork that needs to be filled out by December, and answer questions about DI. Weekly practice for 1-2 hours (day and place decided by each team individually) with practices increasing as competition draws near. Competition on Saturday, March 14 at Beachwood High School!!! (all day). You must be able to be there for both your team ’ s instant challenge and central challenge. If the team decides they want this, Mrs. Lewis will work every other week with them on instant challenge. At team meetings, the team manager also needs to work on instant challenges. Instant Challenge Evenings at least twice throughout the year. Parent Volunteer coordinator for each team-fund raising, help at pizza party, etc. Payment of a $50 activity fee is required as well as approximately $25 for team supplies Lots of fun as you work with your team to solve really cool challenges!