Odyssey of the Mind
“Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving competition for students and community group members of all ages. For the 2020-21 year, teams of students were not required to be from the same school or community group if they choose to participate in the virtual platform of Odyssey of the Mind. 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.
Odyssey of the Mind™ was founded by Dr. C. Samuel Micklus, known as Dr. Sam, in 1978. Dr. Sam was a professor at Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, and used a creative problem-solving activities to teach his Industrial Design students to think Beyond the Box™. That is, taking your knowledge and mixing it with your imagination to build, fix, and create what might have been unimaginable. Teaching creativity is Dr. Sam’s passion and to help share his love of creativity, he founded the parent company of Odyssey of the Mind, Creative Competitions, Inc. (CCI). CCI writes the long-term problems and works with dedicated volunteers from every country to help bring creative problem solving to students and institutions all over the world.“
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How do I expand this narrative arc? Are you interested in creative problem solving and teamwork? Check out some other options in this area:
The Paradigm Challenge, in which you and your team work to promote health and wellness in your community
The Genius Olympiad, in which you and your team are challenged to come up with a creative solution to a climate change problem.
The Rube Goldberg Live and Online Machine Contests, in which teams of high school students use everyday materials to design and build machines that carry out a task that is described in the annual challenge