Casey schools are busy preparing for this year’s THE minds of local students are ticking over as they prepare to compete in an annual problem solving competition.
More than 15 schools are busy preparing for the annual Challenge of the Mind competition that will put their problem solving skills and brain power to the test.
The event will be held in November and is set to attract students from both primary and secondary school.
Chairwoman – Challenge of the Mind 2006 and teacher at Narre Warren North Primary School Christine Trimnell said over the past decade, the locally run inter school competition had attracted wide participation from schools across the municipality.
Teams comprise seven students who compete in their respective sections and schools are usually able to nominate more than one team.
Ms Trimnell said the benefits the competition created for students were countless and reminded schools to register for this year’s event.
This week an official meeting was to be held and the challenges given out to each school.
The task for each team is to then choose and develop one of three challenges over a six-week period before presenting their solution in front of a panel of judges on Presentation Day.
In recent years, Ms Trimnell said the Challenge of the Mind organisers had increased the number of winning categories to nine so the spoils of victory could be shared by as many teams as possible.
“Regardless of the outcome on Presentation Day, the competition offers a unique experience for participating students to develop a number of skills,” Ms Trimnell said.
Ms Trimnell said in keeping with current educational initiatives, students were given the opportunity to develop social skills such as co-operation and confidence, personal skills such as organisation and persistence, and a variety of academic skills such as problem solving, research, writing information technology and creative/artwork skills.
This year, Challenge of the Mind’s Presentation Day will be held on Thursday, 9 November in the Tin Shed at the Gleneagles Campus of Eumemmerring Secondary College in Endeavour Hills.
For more information, contact Christine Trimnell at Narre Warren North Primary School on 9796 8261.
