International Success at Tournament of Minds
Here we were.
The moment we’d been waiting for.
The judges entered our breakout room and told us the 2021 International TOM STEM problem. The ‘Fluorescent Unicorns’ team were so excited. After the judges finished reading the "stormy nights" problem, my team and I got to work and started thinking of creative solutions. We had been given 15 minutes to come up with a solution. We were told our time was up and it felt like it had only been a minute. We all took a deep breath and started presenting our solution. We worked like a well-oiled machine. We finished the presentation with a little bit of humour, feeling happy and confident. I knew none of my team got any sleep that night because the judges said the results would be announced the following day.
I woke up the next day with mixed feelings. I’m so happy with the way we had approached the problem and presented the solution at the same time I was thinking what would be the results. The presentation zoom was scheduled for 6:00PM. The 9 hours I had to wait felt like 9 years. Finally, the time came and we joined the zoom meeting. The Judges gave an introduction to TOM and then started announcing the results. I had gripped my chair expectantly waiting. “The International TOM winner for the primary STEM division - Online is Girton Grammar School!”
We won!
We joined a zoom meeting and celebrated like we did when we won the State TOM. The icing on the cake was when Mrs Bath told us we were the first ever primary Girton team to win International TOM. The grade 4s and grade 5s in our STEM team did an amazing job and a primary Girton team winning International TOM again in future years is always within reach.
I believe we won because we understood TOM is all about the collective strength of a team and that everyone brings something special to the table. We worked together well as a team and everyone got an opportunity to express their ideas, we even agreed to the idea that if we use ice cream in our solution it should be chocolate ice cream. We would like to thank Mrs Bath for running TOM every year and giving everyone an opportunity to show their creative talents. We would also like to thank our facilitator Aidan Clemens for always helping and supporting us. My TOM journey for 2021 was full of fun, excitement and laughter.
I will never forget 2021 Tournament of Minds.
Harshil Balraj (6 Riley)
MEDIA RELEASE
GIRTON STUDENTS WIN INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT OF MINDS COMPETITION
A Junior School team of seven students in Years 4, 5 and 6 has won the international final of the annual Tournament of Minds competition, scheduled to take place in Perth but instead conducted online.
The ‘Fluorescent Unicorns’ team was in the STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths) category of the competition and was given 15 minutes to solve an open-ended problem and three minutes to present their “stormy nights” solution.
Mrs Viv Bath is Girton’s Deputy Head of Junior School and, for more than 20 years, has led Tournament of Minds as a popular Girton co-curricular activity. Mrs Bath said Girton’s Tournament of Minds Teams had been tenacious throughout lockdowns.
“We had seven teams enter the Regional Tournament of Minds competition this year.
“The day before we were due to video our pre-prepared solutions, we went into lockdown and the students had to perform their presentations via Zoom.
“Nevertheless, three of our teams won the Regional finals and competed in the online State tournament.
“Victoria, Queensland, NSW and ACT competed online, and SA, WA and NT were able to perform in a live competition held in each of their states. It was a huge job to bring it all together,” Mrs Bath said.
Tournament of Minds (TOM) is a national program for all primary and secondary students providing the opportunity to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creative, divergent thinking whilst developing collaborative enterprise, excellence and teamwork. The winning Girton Junior STEM team were required to present documents before the tournament and research three famous identities related to their STEM discipline. The team researched Mark Robur (famous Youtuber), Ozlem Tureci (inventor of Pfizer vaccine) and Mark Zuckerberg (co-founder of Facebook).
“Our students had a Plan of Attack organised that could be applied to a range of problem-solving situations. It is wonderful to watch the students make critical decisions under pressure, and the rapid exchange of ideas makes for entertaining viewing.
“Over the last few months, the students have developed their problem-solving skills, their ability to work in a team, their thinking processes and they have become more flexible and creative.
“Tournament of Minds encourages quick thinking and collaboration. It’s fantastic to see students having the courage to put themselves on the spot and work their way out of a problem,” Mrs Bath said.