The Center for Teaching International Relations at the University of Denver



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Program Details

CHALLENGE ELEMENTS

The Formal Presentation | The Collaborative Question (CQ) | The Discovery Poster |The Global Awareness Quiz

The Formal Presentation

Each team is given 15 minutes to make a presentation on their chosen aspect of the annual theme. This presentation may be in the form of a role play, a mock trial, a video presentation, or any other creative way that communicates a thorough understanding of the complexities of the team's chosen topic and proposes a reasonable solution.

In addition to the 15 minute presentation, each team has 5 minutes to set up for their presentation and 5 minutes to dismantle. Teams will be timed, and will be penalized on the scoring rubric for exceeding time limits.

Presentations must revolve around the annual Challenge theme. Teams must choose their related topic and submit them to Challenge staff by February 13, 2004. Topics should include a title and a 200 word summary that describes the issue being presented.

Criteria for Judging the Formal Presentation

Each presentation should communicate a thorough understanding of the complexities of the topic and propose a reasonable solution. The Formal Presentation will account for 65% of a team's score for Best Overall Team.

The Global Awareness Quiz

The Global Awareness Quiz is a 30 minute, 50 question, multiple choice quiz on international relations.

The quiz tests students' knowledge of political geography, current international events, international economics, and basic international relations concepts. Each quiz is scored individually and then averaged for an overall team score. The quiz accounts for 35% of a team's score for Best Overall Team. The individuals with the highest scores will also receive recognition.

Some tips for Quiz preparation: read the newspaper on a daily basis, especially the world news section. Know political geography, including world capitals, global natural resources, recent border changes, and newly formed nation states. Be aware of the major international issues of the day and of important people in international news.

The Collaborative Question (CQ)

For this event, participants are assigned new and random teams, and will not work with their school mates. Teams are given a "real world" question, simulation, or problem centered around the annual theme. The CQ is judged separately from all other events, based on content and participation. Each member of the winning CQ team receives recognition.

The objectives of the CQ process are to:

synthesize knowledge about the theme in a different setting;
work with peers to formulate a unified consensus, and organize a sound presentation that articulates this consensus;
teach time management skills under time pressure; and
encourage the need to listen to the views of others.

After the presentation, judges may ask questions of the team on issues related to the presentation (How did various members participate? Describe the team's decision-making process. How were disagreements resolved? etc.).

The Discovery Poster

The Discovery Poster, a visual representation of the Formal Presentation, is also totally separate from the other elements of the Challenge and does not count toward the overall team score. It is another way for teams to share their months of hard work with their peers and expand all participants' knowledge about the annual theme.

The purpose of the poster is to clearly and concisely present an individual team's topic, or one aspect or their project, to their peers and the judges.

Information to Include

All posters should include: 1) a title that grabs the attention of a passer-by and makes them want to stop and read more 2) a thesis or some form of informative statement that is clearly identified and tells the general idea of your poster 3) the most relevant and important information pertaining to your topic, presented in an organized manner, and 4) your ideas for solutions to improve the situation.

Format

Posters should be able to stand on a table and will not be part of your Formal Presentation (a tri-fold poster board may be easiest, but you are not limited to this medium). Do not include additions to the poster that can easily fall off or become lost (or if you do, be sure to secure them very well).

Criteria for Judging the Discovery Poster

Judges will focus primarily on CONTENT rather than APPEARANCE, although posters should be as creative and organized as possible. Prizes for this will be awarded separately.