2017 Challenge Previews

Choose your challenge and start a team today! Learn how to get started here.

Technical

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Technical Engineering & Design / Navigation Systems / Transportation Systems / Effective Storytelling

Points of Interest

• Design and build a device to navigate a tournament-provided maze.
• Design and build a prop that transforms in the maze.
• Design and build a way to remove an object from the maze.
• Create and present a story about a journey through the maze.
• Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.

Scientific

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Science & Technology / Technical Engineering & Design / Visual & Sound Design / Effective Storytelling

Points of Interest

• Explore scientific concepts used in amusement park attractions.
• Design and build an attraction that uses scientific concepts during its operation.
• Create and present a story that features the attraction operating in an unlikely location.
• Portray the unlikely location using sights and sounds
• Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.

Structural

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Impact Force Research / Technical Design Process / Architectural Design / Structural Engineering / Effective Storytelling

Points of Interest

• Design, build and test a freestanding structure that can withstand impacts from dropped weights.
• Tell a story about a sudden event with dramatic impact.
• Design and create a visible or audible depiction of the story’s sudden event.
• Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.

Fine Arts

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Theater Arts Skills / Musical & Lyrical Composition / Production Techniques / Scenic Design

Points of Interest

• Create and present a musical that includes a change in plans.
• Include music and lyrics that enhance the storytelling.
• Create and present a spectacle as part of the musical.
• Design and integrate a set change into the musical.
• Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.

Improvisational

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Cultural Competency / Improvisational Acting / Character Development / Effective Storytelling

Points of Interest

• Research different cultures and famous explorers.
• Create and present an improvisational skit about a quest to return a lost cultural treasure to its owner.
• Integrate two explorers and a prop into the quest.
• Show how characters work together to overcome a setback.

Service Learning / Project Outreach®

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Social Entrepreneurship / Graphic Art Design / Theatrical Set & Prop Design / Effective Storytelling

Points of Interest

• Identify, design, carry out, and evaluate a project that addresses a need in a real community.
• Create a live presentation that highlights the project and the impact it made on the community.
• Create infographics that include information about the project.
• Create a storage device that transforms as the story of the project unfolds.
• Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.

Early Learning / Rising Stars!®

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Cultural Competency / Compare & Contrast / Engineering & Design / Effective Storytelling

Points of Interest

• Explore how children of different cultures live, learn and play.
• Create and present a play that tells a story about 2 different cultures.
• Present similarities and differences between the 2 cultures.
• Design and build a prop that will transform and be used in 2 different ways.
• Create costumes and scenery to help tell the story.

Instant Challenge

Instant Challenges require teams to engage in quick, creative and critical thinking. At a tournament, a team will receive an Instant Challenge and the materials with which to solve it. The team members must think on their feet by applying appropriate skills to produce a solution in a period of just five to eight minutes.

Instant Challenges are performance-based, task-based, or a combination of the two. Although each Instant Challenge has different requirements, all Instant Challenges reward teams for their teamwork and the creativity of their solutions. Instant Challenges are kept confidential through the day of the Tournament.