Event Information

The Challenge is unique in that students with different skills can participate and be a successful part of their team! Each of the three Challenge events involves the annual theme. All events are judged separately, but the Formal Presentation scores and team Quiz scores are combined to determine the Best Overall Teams.
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CHALLENGE EVENTS

The Formal Presentation

Each team has 10-15 minutes to make a presentation on their chosen aspect of the annual theme. The Presentation must revolve around the annual Challenge theme and be international in scope. Students may present in the form of a role-play, a mock news conference or trial, or any other creative way that communicates a thorough understanding of the topic’s complexities, and proposes a reasonable solution. Each team will have roughly 10 minutes to set up for their presentation and 5 minutes to dismantle.

Read about structural changes to the Formal Presentation in 2008!

Teams this year will choose a specific area of focus for their Presentation, and all Presentations in that area will be evaluated by the same panel of judges.

Criteria for Judging the Formal Presentation
Each presentation should be solution oriented and communicate how well the team understands their chosen topic and its various dimensions.

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The Global Awareness Quiz

Students have 30 minutes to complete the 50-question, multiple-choice Global Awareness Quiz.

The Quiz tests students' knowledge of physical geography, including:

• continents
• major bodies of water, rivers, mountain ranges
• major cities
• vegetation and climate regions
• natural disasters: volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts

The Quiz also includes questions on human geography:

• human migration patterns
• human settlement patterns
• population patterns and growth
• major world religions
• major cultural regions and attributes

Students should also be aware of events, institutions and people in the national and international news. Questions will be based on headline stories between December and March leading up to the Challenge from the following news sources:

• Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com
• BBC: www.bbc.co.uk
• CNN: www.cnn.com

Each quiz is scored individually and then averaged for an overall team score. The individuals with the highest scores will recognition.

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The Collaborative Question (CQ)

For this event, participants are assigned to new and random teams and will not work with their schoolmates. Teams are given a "real world" question, simulation, or problem centered on the annual theme, and they must come to consensus on a response. Each member of the winning CQ teams 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
• Encourage the need to listen to the views of others
• Engage in dialogue with members of the community

After hearing the students’ response to the given scenario, judges will ask questions of the team on issues related to the presentation, such as: Did you come to consensus? How did you reach your conclusions? Describe the team's decision-making process. What factors did you consider most in your discussion?

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