Odyssey Of The Mind

                                                                

What is Odyssey of the Mind? Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving competition for students and community group members of all ages and learning levels. Teams of students select a problem, create a solution, then present their solution in a competition against other teams in the same problem and division.

1. Students work in teams of up to seven members under the guidance of an adult coach.

2. Teams spend weeks or months, at their own pace, working together and creating solutions to long-term problems. Every year, there are six long-term problems designed for vehicle, technical, classical arts and literature, structure, performance, and primary categories.

3. Team members come up with all the ideas for their solution and do all the work themselves. Coaches may help teach skills and educate the team on ways of approaching the problem and of evaluating their solution but will not solve the problem for the team.

4. To solve a problem, teams must follow the general rules in this guide, limitations in the problem, and clarifications issued during the year at the Odyssey of the Mind website.

5. Teams work within the cost limit stated in the problem. This will teach the teams to work with a budget and foster a life-skill that is essentially priceless.

6. Competition is not required; it is an option. Teams are solving OM™ long-term problems all over the world and we provide a platform for teams to compete outside their school or organization, if desired. If a team would like to compete, here are a few things to know:

     a. Teams have 8 minutes to present their long-term problem solution in competition.

      b. If a team participates in a competition, it will be scored for how well it met the                   requirements of the problem and for creativity in categories specific to that                       problem. Teams  should be sure to reread scoring before finalizing their solutions.

      c. Teams are encouraged to do their best and Style score is awarded for the quality             and impact of portions of the team’s solution.

     d. Teams in competition are presented with a spontaneous problem to solve on                site.  Spontaneous problems are unknown to the teams and coaches prior to                    competition.