Odyssey of the Mind

[Anonymous]

Curious--what is this?

[Anonymous]

It is a crazy program, but very fun for elementary kids. Gifted teachers tend to love it -- a bit too much in my opinion.

Basically, it is a combination of engineering and drama. The kids have to work out a problem over the season, and then do a skit about it. For example, a few years back was mousetrap vehicles (the vehicles had to be powered by mousetraps, and accomplish a set of tasks, all tied together with a performance).

http://www.odysseyofthemind.com

Great for little kids. Way too dorky once they are big (at that point, the kids can move into straight engineering programs if they want, or straight theatre.)

[Anonymous]

We did OoM with a team of 3rd and 4th graders - our team didn't really gel so they didn't have a great bonding experience - the kids were just too different. Plus with all of the kids in more than one activity we had a very hard time finding enough hours in the week to meet when people were available and willing. It ended up being very stressful for us just to get our son to practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a crazy program,

http://www.odysseyofthemind.com

Great for little kids. Way too dorky once they are big (at that point, the kids can move into straight engineering programs if they want, or straight theatre.)

Yes, crazy, but can be crazy smart, for the right kids. It's not too dorky for older ones, again depending on the kids involved. I've seen high school teams who are tech geeks as well as drama geeks involved. Some problems are not technical at all, some are almost all technical but still need the drama bent to pull it together in the solutions. Best way to learn is read the website, also google some old performances so see. It's definitely not a polished solution, as it is the kids solution. It can be a total wreak and the worst experience or a total blast, again depending on the mix of the kids, be they early elementary or high school.