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Odyssey of the Mind is administered by Creative Competitions, Inc. HISTORY The Odyssey of the Mind program was started in 1978 by Dr. C. Samuel Micklus, a professor at Rowan University in New Jersey . That first competition involved teams from 28 New Jersey schools; now, the program is international, with teams from Australia , Belgium , Canada , China , Germany , Hungary , Italy , Japan , Kazakhstan , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malaysia , Mexico , Moldova , the Netherlands , Poland , Russia , Siberia , Singapore , Slovakia , the United Kingdom , Uzbekistan , and West Africa competing in addition to those from the United States . {Link without Title} In 1999 , a rift in the Odyssey board of directors over the profit status of the organization led to the formation of a separate organization, Destination Imagination , a non-profit that runs a program similar to Odyssey of the Mind. ORGANIZATION Odyssey of the Mind teams are divided into four divisions: Division I, roughly corresponding to Elementary School ages, Division II for Middle School , Division III for High School , and Division IV for college. The requirements are structured so that students may compete at higher levels than they typically would, with the exception of Division IV which has more specific requirements. They may not, however, participate in a lower levels; for example, a student of the right age for Division II could compete in Divisions II, III, but not Division I. Division IV is specifically for college students and therefore requires a high school diploma or GED and enrollment in at least one college class. There is also a non-competitive primary division; this is for young children, who are given a simplified problem and fewer constraints than the higher divisions. They present and are given feedback at the first level tournament and cannot advance. In the United States, each participating state has its own Odyssey organization. The states are further broken down into regions. Teams compete at the regional level first and then, if they win, progress to the state level. There is no national level; state-winning teams go directly to the World Finals, which is held somewhere in the United States or a country that participates in the OM program, usually near the end of May. The World Finals for the 2005 – 06 school year will be held from May 24 – 27 , 2006, at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa . LONG-TERM PROBLEMS The long-term problem solutions are presented as skits of no more than eight minutes. During these skits, some team members will generally be "backstage" controlling the technical aspects of the skit, while others will be acting. The Long Term presentations take 3-5 months to produce. There is a cost limit for all materials used in the skit. This limit is typically $125–150; the team members must submit a list of all costed materials, which the judges check to make sure that the team is within the cost limit. Some materials are not costed; these include non-costume clothing, computers, sound systems, footwear, Musical Instrument s, and Batteries . Each year, six problems are released. They correspond to six general categories: # The vehicle problem is similar to the technical problem; the team members must build vehicles to solve their problem. Again, there is less emphasis on the skit. The 05-06 Vehicle problem is called The Great Parade and incorporates a Parade and three trips around a parade route. The vehicle must be team driven and hand propelled. The problems alternate between human carrying size and independent self driven vehicles. # The technical problem is mainly focused on a technical solution involving building machinery. There is less emphasis on the skit in technical problems. Previous technical problems have included robot building, sound production and others. # The ''Classics...'' problem is focused on acting and the skit. There is typically not much technical aspect to these problems. They have included in the past topics from Shakespeare interpretation to art analysis, great human achievements, and other "Classical" themes. # The structure (or balsa) problem involves building a structure out of 1/8 Inch Balsa Wood and Glue . The task is always to make the structure hold as much weight as possible; each year, there is a different requirement as to how the structure must be built. There is little emphasis on acting and on the script in this problem. # The performance problem is heavily based on acting and on the script. This problem has included topics like Idioms and animation. # The primary problem is suited for only younger participants in grades K-2, and contain simple requirements for a problem that can easily challenge the youngest minds. Teams who solve this problem do not officially compete; there is no spontaneous competition for this problem and no formal awards ceremony. There is a lot of overlap in these categories; acting problems can make use of technical solutions, and technical problems can emphasize their skits. Scoring emphasizes creativity and ingenuity more than pure technical or acting skill; as a result, special awards are sometimes given to teams which may not perform their skit well, but which demonstrated exemplary "out-of-the-box" thinking. Style Style is a component of long-term where teams are judged on specific elements of their skit. There are five elements; two are specified in the problem, there are two "free choice of team" elements, and the fifth is a score of how well the other elements contribute to the performance. The pre-specified elements are related to the problem in some way; they are typically something to do with the appearance of a vehicle or costume, however in the Balsa Wood problem, the structure may not count as a style element. The style points account for a significant part of the overall score, depending on the nature of the problem. SPONTANEOUS PROBLEMS The Spontaneous ("Spont") problems are the part of the competition that encourage quick, off-the-top-of-your-head thinking. Spontaneous problems fall into three categories:
Although an Odyssey team can consist of up to seven members, only five can participate in the Spontaneous problem. Team members that do not participate must either leave the competition room or stay in the room without communicating with the rest of the team in any way. The team members usually decide in advance who will participate in the different types of Spont problems; after the judge announces which of the three types a team will be given, the other teammates will leave or stay as the case may be. SCORING Each team is given a score out of 350 points: 200 from Long-term, 100 from Spontaneous, and 50 from Style. The scores are curved—the team scoring highest in Long-term receives 200 points, and the other teams' scores are scaled proportionately. Thus, a team ranking first in all three elements of the competition would end up with a "perfect" total of 350 points, without necessarily having scored the maximum number of points in any area of scoring. NAMING Though the program is often called "OM," this use has been discouraged as the result of a trademark-related lawsuit. An agreement was reached that prohibits the use of the acronym "OM". As a result, participants are encouraged not to use the designation "OM" and all official works use the acronym "OotM" instead. The use of the acronym "OM" may result in a penalty, depending upon the rules of the particular regional or state Odyssey organization in question. EXTERNAL LINKS
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