Odyssey of the Mind, abbreviated OM or OotM, is a creative problem-solving program involving students from kindergarten through
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined long-term problem and present their solution to the problem at a competition. They must also participate in the spontaneous portion of the competition by generating solutions to a problem they have not seen before. While the long-term problem solution often takes many months to complete and involves various elements of theatrical performance, construction and design, the spontaneous portion occurs on the day of the competition.
Odyssey of the Mind is a trademark of Creative Competitions, Inc. (CCI). Competitions are administered by a mixture of regional non-profit associations and the for-profit CCI corporation.
History
The Odyssey of the Mind program was co-founded by C. Samuel Micklus and Theodore Gourley in 1978 at Glassboro State College (now
Rowan University
Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. It was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a site donated by 107 residents.
...
) in Glassboro,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. The first competition, known as "Olympics of the Mind", involved teams from 28 New Jersey schools. The program is now international, with teams from
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
,
DODDS
The Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) are a network of schools, both primary and secondary, that serve the dependant, dependents of United States military and civilian United States Department of Defense (DoD) personnel in three ar ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
,
Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, and
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
, regularly competing in addition to teams from the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Organization
Odyssey of the Mind teams are divided into four divisions:
*Division I — Grades 3–5 (U.S.): Less than 12 years of age on May 1 of the competition year (Other International).
*Division II — Grades 6–8 (U.S.): Less than 15 years of age on May 1 of the competition year (Other International).
*Division III — Grades 9–12 (U.S.): Oldest team member does not qualify for Divisions I or II and is attending regular school—not a college or university or anything similar (Other International).
*Division IV — Collegiate for all teams. All team members must have a high school diploma or its equivalent and be enrolled in at least one course at a two- or four-year college or university.
The oldest team member determines the team's division.
There is also a non-competitive primary division for young children (grades K–2 U.S.), who are given a simplified problem and fewer constraints than the higher divisions. They present and are given feedback at the first level tournament and cannot advance, except for special occasions where officials invite a team to perform again at the state level.
Teams are limited to a maximum of seven team members.
In the United States, each participating state has its own Odyssey association. Most states are further broken down into regions. Teams compete at the regional level first. The highest-scoring teams progress to the state level. In the U.S. there is no national level. State-winning teams go directly to the World Finals, which have always been held in the U.S., usually at the end of May.
Event structure
Long-term problems
There are five categories of problems that participants can solve:
*Vehicle: building vehicles of different sizes to perform specified tasks.
*Technical: building “innovative contraptions”.
*Classics: incorporates knowledge of architecture, art, and literature; can be a documentary or behind-the-scenes feature.
*Structure: designing and building a structure using only balsa wood and glue to support the highest weight load
*Performance: acting, singing, and/or dancing based on a given theme
In addition to its main category, a problem may involve techniques from other categories. For example, acting is prevalent in solutions to all five problems, and a team can usually earn bonus points by throwing in knowledge of history into a non-Classics problem or technology in a non-Tech problem.
Specifications differ between problems, but there are some crucial rules. The Outside Assistance rule heavily stresses that every aspect of a solution must result from the work of the team; parents and coaches must restrict themselves to supervising safety and encouraging focus. Something as simple as a mother adjusting her child's hat prior to competition is considered outside assistance, with a score penalty. Thus all brainstorming, building, painting, sewing, and fixing are to be done by the team.
For each long-term problem, the team must present its solution in eight minutes or less, including set-up time, and the total cost of all materials used must either be under the specified Cost Limit of $125 or $145. The rules require participants to push their thinking capacities to make best use of their skills, time, and money.
A new problem for each category is presented every year on the official Odyssey of the Mind website. Most years, one problem is sponsored by
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
.
Cost limit
There is a cost limit on the value of all materials used in the presentation of the long-term solution. This limit is typically US$125–145, where the classical, performance, and primary problems have a limit of $125, while the vehicle, technical, and structural problems have a limit of $145. As of the 2006–2007 rules update, some materials have a set assigned value. Some examples include computers and most audio-visual equipment (
projectors
A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...
,
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
s,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
s, music players, etc.). The suggested cost to write these items down as is anywhere between $5–$10. Still other materials are simply exempt from cost. This includes
batteries and
power cord
A power cord, line cord, or mains cable is an electrical cable that temporarily connects an appliance to the mains electricity supply via a wall socket or extension cord. The terms are generally used for cables using a power plug to connect t ...
s, footwear, tables and chairs. All of these materials, even the exempt ones, must be listed on the cost form. The judges check this list to make sure that the team is within the cost limit and following the appropriate assigned values and exemptions.
Style
''Style'' is a component of long-term problems where teams are scored on specific elements of their presentation. There are five elements scored in style. Often, two of these elements are specified in the problem, the other two are then "free choice of team" elements, and the fifth is a score of how well the other elements contribute to the performance overall. The pre-specified elements are related to the problem in some way; they are typically something to do with the appearance of a vehicle, costume, or prop. The free choice items may be anything the team wishes as long as they are not already scored as part of the long-term solution or pre-specified elements. Each element is scored from 1–10,bruhhe overall score.
Spontaneous
As the name suggests, teams do not know ahead of time the topic they are to compete in. At the tournament, individual teams enter the competition room and are presented with one of three problem types: verbal, hands-on, or verbal/hands-on.
In verbal problems, teams are usually given a minute to think and then two to three minutes to respond to a theme such as "make a rhyme using a name or species of an animal". Teams will then be graded based on the creativity of their individual responses. For instance, "there is a dog on a log" is a common answer which would earn the team one point, while "I can step on an ant, but an uncle I can't" involves word play, a creative response that is worth 3 or 5 points. Verbal problems encourage individuals to incorporate their knowledge of history, science, literature, and popular culture.
Hands-on problems focus on teamwork and the ability to listen to complicated directions. Teams will usually be instructed to build something based on the limited materials given, such as a freestanding tower using a few sheets of paper, some paper clips, a pair of scissors, and a piece of tape. The team with the tallest tower and the best teamwork earns the most points. In OM, if the rules do not say that something cannot be done, then it can; in other words, participants are encouraged to search for creative, outside-the-box solutions.
A hybrid, or verbal/hands-on, problem has aspects of both types, typically either a verbal problem that involves manipulation of physical objects or a two-part problem: build something in part 1, and provide verbal responses with it in part 2.
Teams are allowed up to seven team members in total, but only five may compete in the spontaneous category at the tournament. The others may watch the competition, but may not help. Before the competition the team should decide who is on the verbal, hands-on, and verbal/hands-on subteams, so they can quickly assemble soon after entering the competition room and learning the problem type.
Scoring
Each team is given a score out of 350 points: 200 from Long-term, 100 from Spontaneous, and 50 from Style. Style is scored from 1–10 in each of the five categories, and the Long-term and Spontaneous problems are scored according to each problem's individual rules. The scores awarded are then scaled within each problem and division based upon the highest score achieved by any team in each of the three scoring categories. For instance, the team scoring highest in Long-term in a particular problem and division receives 200 points, and the scores for the other teams in that problem and division are scaled proportionately. A team ranking first in its problem and division in all three elements of the competition would thus receive a "perfect" score of 350 points, regardless of the actual raw scores assigned by the judges.
The Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award is granted to teams who have demonstrated exceptional creativity, the essence of the Odyssey of the Mind program. Winning the award at the regional or state level will qualify a team to advance to the next level of competition, even if the team had not placed high enough to advance on their own.
World Finals
All teams who advance from their state finals, or their national finals if they are from outside of the US, are invited to World Finals. World Finals is the culmination of the entire year of Odyssey of the Mind.
* 2021 - Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, June 11–13
* 2020 – Held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic
A variety of non-competitive activities are provided at World Finals; the representative one is pin trading, in which participants trade pins from their regions and states with participants from other states and countries. There is a creativity festival where each state/country runs a booth containing a fun activity related to their state. The highlights of World Finals are the opening and closing ceremonies. These ceremonies are held
Olympics
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
-style in a stadium on campus. Teams march in and sit with other competitors from their state. After the closing ceremonies, several parties are held for different age groups and a party is held for the coaches. These parties are a reward for all the hard work that teams have put in.
The float and banner parade is another fun event that happens on the Thursday night of the World Finals. It is a parade in which every state and country participating makes a float and/or a banner to represent their state.
The coaches' competition is another event that is put on during World Finals. The completion is only for coaches and is more along the lines of a spontaneous problem than a long-term problem. The coaches get the problem in advance and have time to prepare. They hand out awards to the first, second, and third place coaches.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://odysseyofthemind.com
COU — Creative Opportunities Unlimited
Educational organizations based in the United States
Student competitions