Esperance Primary School ToM social sciences team; Emily Turner, Aria Lovejoy, Nicholas Sortberg, Vanessa Carbone, Sienna Valente, Zara Hood and Monty Paris with team facilitator Mr Karl Gurney. Photo: Esperance Primary School.
In November, a team of year six students from Esperance primary school will represent WA in Tournament of Minds international finals in Sydney.
The team won the social science division of the competition a few weeks ago in Perth with their well-executed creative thinking challenge and ten-minute drama performance that provided a solution to a problem presented to them by the judges.
This will be the second time the team will cross country to represent WA in the ToM National Final, having travelled to Melbourne to compete in the Finals last year.
Team facilitator Karl Gurney said the success of the students was down to their team work and dedication.
“They have really established a highly functioning team and specific roles over this time,” he said.
“The team has been developing high collaboration skills and their success is a product of many hours of hard work, training for these difficult tasks.”
The students now have just over a month to prepare before they take on social sciences teams from around the world.
They will have six weeks to devise a solution to a problem with another ten-minute drama performance and will also have to sharpen up their problem-solving skills in preparation for the spontaneous challenge they will receive on the day.
A Tournament of Minds spokesperson said that the competition was “an opportunity for students with a passion for learning and problem solving to demonstrate their skills and talents in an exciting, vibrant and public way”.
Mr Gurney said through learning to work together to problem solve, the students were learning essential, life-long skills.
“The program teaches young students how to function efficiently and effectively in a collaborative environment and has real world benefits which are sought after by future employees,” he said.
