DI is MUCH more than an 8 minute performance. The 8 minute performance is just the tip of the iceberg. What is not seen is the five months of hard work these kids put in as they prepare for their 8 minute performance.
DI is not just about going to Global Finals either (although the kids may think it is). Destination Imagination is A PROCESS. Throughout this process the kids are learning and practicing "21st Century Skills" (as the school calls them) or 'Real Life' skills (as I call them) that will last their lifetime. Every single week at DI these teams..
- make hard decisions
- learn how to compromise
- learn how to listen to others ideas
- set goals
- use project management strategies
- plan ahead
- ask questions
- reflect on their current situation
- read the challenge (over and over)
- learn how to give and receive constructive feedback and act on that feedback
- how to lead a meeting and set an agenda
- how to have a voice in a sometimes chaotic environment
- learn how to ask for help
- consider cost of potential elements of their challenge
- build, create prototypes, brainstorm, reflect, question, assess
- and more.....
Many weeks are hard and frustrating. They may want to give up, cry or never come back, and they don't. They keep coming back. They set goals, reach milestones and celebrate their small 'wins'. We laugh and we have fun. Honestly, some weeks after DI I feel like I've been at a comedy show! These teams are also establishing friendships that will last a lifetime.
It is hard to describe DI to someone who isn't familiar with it. I am still challenged when I have to give a quick 'elevator speech' when someone asks me about DI. Especially when I am expected to explain a complex, multi-faceted challenge in a few sentences. I'm not easily able to do it. As a way to document the detail, quality, effort and workmanship that has gone into our challenges, I created this blog as a way to showcase some of the detailed elements that were created as part of challenges this year. It is truly mind blowing. Especially when they do this ALL themselves without any intervention from adults. It's empowering and inspiring and these kids should be extremely proud of what they have done.
It really is all about the details.
From the D.I.Y 'Top Secret' team - 2017 - 3 team members
This is a shoebox that was turned into a 'tool box' that served as a lie detector. The team was to create a gadget that was an everyday item that performance an unexpected task. The box was covered in duct tape, then had a handle and front clasp added. Inside was a snap circuit set and when one of the team members pushed the button on the top of the toolbox the alarm (lie detector) went off.
This is a screwdriver. The handle is a toilet paper roll. The top is the top of a glue container painted gold and glued onto the tube.
This is a cardboard hammer. Three hammers were cut out of cardboard and then glued together. Thus it is a 3-layer cardboard hammer.
This is a drill. The bottom is a small piece of 2x4 wood. The handle is a paper towel roll and the 'drill' bit is a skewer. It was all hot glued together.
This was the substitution cipher. They created the entire alphabet and numbers 0-9 by using paint chips and creating a unique, hand drawn spirograph on each one. Each paint chip/spirograph symbol corresponded to one letter of the alphabet or numbers 0-9.
These are two handmade books that were created that contained the secret code. On the pages they included some paper weaving, zentangle, facts about colors, and spirographs.
This was a plain white shirt purchased at Goodwill and hand painted by the team.
This was a hand knit 'jam sandwich'. The top and bottom layer were light brown 'bread' and the middle layer was purple 'jam'. Two jam sandwiches were knit by a team member.
This is a 4 x 6 foot piece of cardboard which served as a kitchen 'counter top'. All of those small pieces of color were paint chips that were cut up by hand, and each one was individually hot glued on.
Front view of laptop.
From the Heel Clicking Narhwals with Extra Sauce - 2017 - 7 team members
These 'Vaga-Vagas' costumes were made out of triangle cardboard pieces that came as part of packaging to protect the edges of a wooden cabinet. The team used string to connect the triangles together to make these costumes. Notice how they used three to make hats, too. These kids went into their garage together and came back out an hour later with these costumes!
This is a close up of a tree trunk that was made out of chicken wire, paper mache and PVC pipe. They cut the paper into pieces and laid it on top of the chicken wire then painted it with a glue mixture. Then spray painted it brown.
Along each side of the paper mache tree were trees that were made of cardboard. The trunks were cut out and spray painted brown. The canopy of the tree was cut out of cardboard then they took crunched up newspapers, glued them on the canopy and spraypainted green.
Another animal costume/sweatshirt. This one had pieces of felt hot glued to the back.
From the Blue Girl Group - 2017 - 5 team members
That table in the middle of their backdrop was hand made by the team. All of the hieroglyphics and bricks were hand painted by the team.
This is the colorful character costume. The skirt contains hand glued beads on the front and back. Inside the skirt are three sets of lights (red, green and blue) and she is able to turn on and off the lights from a switch inside of her skirt.
Team DAAMP RAYSNs - 2017 - 5 team members (This was a first time team.)
Video of their performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQTsDlXgsAM
The
team built a wooden rotating stage. They built it with hinges so it was small
enough to fold and transport in a car. They added a frame that acted as
supports for the ropes used to rotate the stage, a place for the pulleys
for the limbo, and somewhere to hang the dividing curtain for the
second act.
