Volume 30 Issue 28 14 Sep 2021 8 Tishri 5782

Solving the Future

Craig Moss – Co-ordinator of Gifted & Talented 7-12

Outstanding achievements in academic competitions and programs during Term 3

The Gifted & Talented Department offered a number of academic competitions and programs during Term 3 with notable achievements. Five Emanuel students qualified for the National Finals in a variety of Future Problem Solving competitions. 

 

 

 

 

 

Scenario Performance

Congratulations to Eden Levit and Maayan Granot, both in Year 10, for qualifying to the National Finals in the Scenario Performance competition. This is an oral storytelling competition where students had to develop creative and entertaining, short, futuristic stories related to one of this year’s Future Problem Solving Program (FPSP) topics. Eden’s engaging story was based on youth in competitive sports. The evaluator commented, ‘what a story and what an ending’. Maayan related her powerful performance to the human impact on the environment. The evaluator commented that it was a ‘relevant story, beautifully presented and a joy to watch’. They particularly loved the idea that individuals can bring about change. Below are links to the amazing scenario performances they both submitted. 

Scenario Writing

Congratulations also to Ashley Cohn in Year 8 for reaching the National Finals in the Scenario Writing competition.
This is a competition where students write short, futuristic stories that are creative, entertaining and related to one of this year’s FPSP topics. Ashley, with the help of
Liberty Waldner, produced a gripping and engaging story about wearable technology. The evaluator commented that it was an, ‘exceptional piece of writing’ A link to the story is below. 

Community Problem Solving

Well done to Eden Levit, Ruby Brody and Willow Gelin for reaching the National Finals in the Community Problem Solving competition. Starting in Term 2, they had to select a real world problem, identify a solution, and then actively implement their action plan to address the problem. Eden and Ruby teamed up together to tackle the normalisation of sexual assaul,t while Willow looked to address the problem of teenage gambling.

Below are their proposals with their final report due just before the finals next month: 

Global Issues Problem Solving

We also entered three teams into the very competitive and challenging Global Issues Problem Solving competition. For this competition students were required to identify the problems/challenges of a futuristic scenario, come up with solutions and create an action plan for their best solution. Although they did not qualify for the National Finals this year, the students involved have learned and practised powerful problem-solving that engaged their critical and creative thinking. It can take a couple of years to get up to speed with the demands of this competition. 

  • Year 7/8 FPS Team – Boaz Simhi, Dylan Vitek, Jake Isenberg, Niek Nathan
  • Year 8 FPS Team – Liberty Waldner, Daniel Newfield, Ariel Bloom, Elias Davis, Jack Fridman
  • Year 10 FPS Team – Jake Newfield, Jake Sharp, Arielle Melamed, Jamie Schneider and Aiden Sheps. 

New critical and creative thinking sessions provided

The students who are involved in the four different Future Problem Solving Programs were offered sessions, three times a term, in order to help develop their critical and creative thinking. Through exploring issues in wearable technology and the human impact on the environment, the students were able to practise critical and creative thinking strategies in idea generation, solution creation and decision making. These sessions have been very successful and will continue in Term 4. 

Students enter NSW Negotiation Competition 

Three teams entered the NSW Negotiation Competition for the first time: 

  • Luca Calderon Havas and Ellie Morris (Year 11)
  • Ella Hart and Alix Cane (Year 10)
  • Benjamin Cohen (Year 11) and Aiden Merten (Year 10)

The NSW Negotiations Competition is an international diplomacy and negotiation competition that immerses students in the role of state negotiators finding practical and pragmatic solutions to important geopolitical international disputes. 

Each team took part in two preliminary rounds where they had to represent a particular country in each negotiation. They had to act towards the achievement of that country’s strategic interests and objectives by proposing and debating solutions to the crisis at hand in order to find mutually beneficial resolutions to disagreements based in real-world situations. The teams, with limited knowledge of the positions of each other, were issued instructions from their respective governments that detail the outcome they should seek to achieve, and those that should be avoided at all costs! 

Although they did not qualify for the next round, it was still a great opportunity for the students to develop their creativity, problem solving, communication, critical thinking and teamwork skills.

Below are some student reflections on the competition:

  •  “The competition was really fun, and very different to a usual debate. The negotiations involved each team posing as a different country (we were The Philippines for the first round and Afghanistan for the second round), and then negotiating around a political issue with one other country. Both rounds that we competed in were really fun, and although we sadly didn’t make it to the semi-finals, we still had a great time!” Benjamin Cohen (Year 11)

  •  “It was a fun and worthwhile experience. I really enjoyed it and I learnt a lot from it.” Ella Hart (Year 10)

 

 

 

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