Section 5: Facilitating Instant Challenge
Subtopics: Overview, Procedure, Where to Find Instant Challenges, Types of Instant Challenges, Practice Guidelines, Procedural Technicalities, Benefits
Materials needed: Rules of the Road, Roadmap, Instant Challenge Practice Guide, sticky notes, highlighter, pen
Overview
We’ve talked only briefly about Instant Challenge so far—enough so that you know it is worth 25% of a team’s total score. You also know that there are some special rules in Instant Challenge with regard to Interference. Let’s delve a little deeper.
Instant Challenge is a Challenge each team will receive at the tournament that has to be solved “instantly,” unlike Team Challenges, for which teams may take months to create a solution. Points will be awarded for teamwork, problem-solving, and quick creativity. The better a team demonstrates its ability to problem-solve cooperatively and creatively, the higher its score should be.
The Instant Challenge portion of the tournament is usually between 5-10 minutes in duration, and is worth a total possible score of 100 points. Although each Instant Challenge has different requirements, all Instant Challenges reward teams for teamwork and the uniqueness and creativity of the team’s solution.
Instant Challenge scoring criteria may include but are not limited to:
· Performance skills
· Use of materials provided
· Creativity of the solution
· Teamwork
Procedure
In a nutshell, this is the procedure that is followed for Instant Challenge at tournament:
1. Teams report to a separate competition area and are escorted to a room where Appraisers will give the team a Challenge to solve “instantly.”
2. Only the one team, one Team Manager age 18 or older, and Appraisers are allowed in the room.
3. The Challenges are usually 5-10 minutes in length and are worth up to 100 points, or 25% of the total score.
4. Each team that competes in a specific Team Challenge at a specific competition level will receive the same Instant Challenge.
5. At the time of the Challenge, teams will receive 2 copies of the Challenge. The Challenge will then be read to the team.
6. Time starts and the team tries to solve the Challenge within the time requirements of the Challenge.
7. The team is then escorted away from the Instant Challenge competition area.
8. Instant Challenge scores are not posted until after the tournament.
9. It is very important to keep the nature of the Instant Challenge a secret after your team has competed. You may discuss it privately among yourselves and your Team Manager(s), but you will be disqualified if you are overheard discussing it. Teams should not discuss Instant Challenges publicly until after the Global Finals tournament because Regional and Affiliate Finals all over the nation use the same Instant Challenges.
When you practice with your team, the procedure is very similar:
1. The team stands around a table on which a copy of the Challenge is placed, face down.
2. Any materials that the Challenge might require are on the same table. Your team may not touch the materials until time starts.
3. When everyone is ready, the Team Manager flips over the Challenge.
4. The Team Manager reads out loud a copy of the Challenge, and then starts a timer, at which point the team can begin working.
5. The Team Manager makes sure the team follows the timing required in the Challenge. The Team Manager may only report how much time is left if the team asks, or if the Instant Challenge lists it in the procedure.
6. The Team Manager scores the team’s solution. If there is one more than one adult present, total and average all the scores, which is very similar to what occurs at tournament.
More detailed information about Instant Challenge appears in Rules of the Road on pages 245-247, and your Roadmap gives you some tips about how to practice on page 123. Following this audio recording are two documents that provide Instant Challenge facilitation advice. One is called “Facilitating Instant Challenge Effectively,” and the other is called “12 Tips for Instant Challenge Preparation.”
Instant Challenge should be practiced at every single team meeting not only because teams get better at it the more they do it, but also because the skills that are learned through Instant Challenge, particularly teamwork, flow into the Team Challenge.
Where to Find Instant Challenges
Don’t be concerned about where to find Instant Challenges. You’ll get nine of them in your Instant Challenge Practice Guide that you can download from the Resource Area of Destination Imagination. You get a whole lot more in Roadmap (some of which are carryovers from the previous year), and they gradually increase in difficulty. Our Affiliate has its own cre8iowa Instant Challenge Library, and you can find more in the cre8iowa Member Gallery. There is a Destination Imagination® Support Committee resource library that contains links to many free Instant Challenge sites. You can, of course, download Instant Challenges from Destination Imagination through ShopDI.org. Following this audio recording are links to all of these Instant Challenge resources.
Types of Instant Challenges
Instant Challenges can be loosely divided into 3 types: Performance-Based, Task-Based, and Combination. Your team will not know which type of Instant Challenge it will receive until the team enters the room.
· In a performance-based Instant Challenge, your team will work together to create a theatrical presentation. Your team is scored for creativity of the performance, the presentation and/or use of materials, and teamwork. Sometimes the materials are physical items, and sometimes the materials are imaginary. A performance-based Instant Challenge can be verbal or non-verbal, and teams may or may not be given time to practice their solution before presenting it to the Appraisers.
· In a task-based Instant Challenge, the focus is on the team working together to move, build, change or protect materials in order to complete a task. The team might also be asked to communicate information, either verbally or non-verbally. Teams are scored for teamwork, the creativity of the outcome, and their success in completing the task.
· In a combination Instant Challenge, there are both theatrical elements and task elements that are scored, and points are awarded for creativity, teamwork and problem-solving.
Some Instant Challenges require divergent thinking, or “out of the box” thinking, while others require convergent thinking, or “in the box” thinking. Instant Challenges that require divergent thinking score more points for creativity, or generating options. Instant Challenges that require convergent thinking score more points for teamwork and critical thinking (or narrowing down your options). Sound familiar? Remember that creativity is made up of generating options and focusing or narrowing options down—in other words, we’re talking about divergent and convergent thinking. Examples of these 2 types of thinking can be found in these places:
· “Mix-up in the Factory,” on page 2 of the Instant Challenge Practice Guide, is a typical divergent thinking Instant Challenge. Points are awarded for completing the task, creativity and teamwork.
· “Number Boxes ,” pages 147-147 in Road Map, is a typical convergent thinking Instant Challenge. Points are awarded for completing the task and teamwork.
Practice Guidelines
In practicing with your team, you need to keep in mind a few guidelines:
· Have your team practice a combination of different types of Instant Challenges. Do not do just one type. A team needs time to develop solution techniques or strategies for all types of Instant Challenges. Your goal should be to build a library of different types of experiences for your team so that they will be able to handle whatever is thrown at them at the tournament. Being able to deal with the unexpected, or thinking on your feet, is also a life skill, but it doesn’t happen overnight.
· Teams should make Instant Challenge practice a regular part of their meetings.
· Make sure you debrief after every Instant Challenge. At the very minimum, ask your teams what they could have done differently, what the most difficult part of the Challenge was, and what they would do to improve in the future. The debriefing questions found after this audio recording, “Facilitating Instant Challenge Effectively,” are more detailed. If you visit the cre8iowa Instant Challenge Library and download one of the theme-based documents, you’ll find debriefing questions that are geared to the type of Instant Challenge. It makes no sense to have your team practice Instant Challenge umpty-ump times and not debrief; your team will simply repeat the same types of mistakes.
· The Team Manager’s observations about the team’s interaction, techniques and/or strategies are valuable, but the Team Manager should not solve the Challenge for the team.
· Have team members practice appraising. I used to rotate having a team member sit out and appraise. It gave students a different perspective, and it also helped the team to learn how to work under changing circumstances. You never know if one of the team members is going to be ill or absent on the day of the tournament!
· Teach your team to use CPS Generating and Focusing Tools to help them solve Instant Challenges.
· Encourage your team to experiment with different roles as they practice Instant Challenge. For example, one person can be a timekeeper, while another person can focus on scoring elements to see where the most points are awarded. A timekeeper should provide more than just the time left. This person should also help focus the team by describing what remains to be done in the time that is left. Another person might be re-reading the rules to make sure the team understands what it has to accomplish. One team member can be a facilitator, who moves things along and makes sure everyone has a role to play. As your team members experience these roles, or jobs, they will learn each other’s strengths in different types of situations. Make sure you rotate roles so that everyone is cross-trained.
· Think about videotaping the team as it solves an Instant Challenge. Then have the team evaluate itself, especially its interaction, or teamwork.
· If you don’t have the exact materials that are called for in the Instant Challenge, feel free to substitute similar materials. If the space required is too large, downsize the space and materials proportionately.
· Teams have a tendency to choose the first option that they generate, which is usually the least creative and most common solution. To encourage the team to generate more options, have them repeat the Instant Challenge a second, third and fourth time, requiring a new solution each time. This also teaches the team that there isn’t a single correct answer.
· You can increase the difficulty of a Challenge by removing materials, decreasing time, or adding a requirement. You can make it easier for a younger team by adding materials, increasing the time, and subtracting a requirement.
· Consider having your team write some of its own Instant Challenges. This helps students get a different perspective, and makes them aware of the components of Instant Challenge. If they like, they can submit their Instant Challenges to cre8iowa by e-mailing . We welcome their fresh ideas!
Procedural Technicalities
There are a few procedural technicalities about Instant Challenge that I’d like to point out, since no one likes to be surprised at the tournament.
· The entire team does not have to participate in Instant Challenge, but it is not to your advantage to have fewer people participating. More people equals more brain power!
· You need at least 2 team members in order to compete in Instant Challenge. This is the same rule that applies to the Team Challenge, by the way.
· Teams must decide BEFORE they enter the Instant Challenge competition room which team members will participate.
· Teams must decide whether or not they want their Team Manager to accompany them before they enter the competition room.
· Only one Team Manager or adult representative may accompany the team into Instant Challenge, and that person must be at least age 18 and cannot be a member of the team.
· If a Team Manager manages 2 or more teams in the same Team Challenge and the same Level, the Team Manager cannot go into the Instant Challenge room.
· Your team may bring timing devices into Instant Challenge as long as they don’t beep or make noise. Handheld multiple-function devices such as smart phones and tablets are not allowed.
However, the official time is kept by the Appraiser who serves as the Timekeeper, not by a team member.
· Your team may ONLY use the materials provided by the Appraisers.
· The Team Manager may not take notes, photos or videos in the Instant Challenge room.
· All electronic devices, such as cell phones, beepers, pagers, personal assistants, and so on, must be turned off, not only by team members, but also by the Team Manager. Otherwise you risk getting a deduction for Interference.
· There are other rules found on pages 245-247 of Rules of the Road, but the most important one is that your team members may not talk about their Instant Challenge with anyone but themselves and their Team Manager, and they must take care not to be overheard, or they can be disqualified. Only after Global Finals can the team discuss its Instant Challenge openly.