Maryland Creative Problem Solvers Instant Challenge Exchange

Twin Cities

This is a manipulative (hands-on) challenge.

You may talk together as a team during the planning time, but you will not be scored on what you say. During the building time, you may not talk or communicate with body language or facial expressions.

The Challenge:

A neighboring city wants to recreate the design of your city hall. You are a group of architects assigned to send the plans to the builders in the other city. They do not speak your language, however, and you have to find a way to communicate the design to them with the materials provided.

Materials:

Building materials:

Two identical sets of building blocks, about 20 pieces each.: Note: I found small wooden building block sets at the dollar store, but you could use a selection of legos, wooden blocks of different shapes, or for a two dimensional version, you could use construction paper shapes.
A screen to visually hide the architects model building.: Something that the teams can signal over but hides one of the buildings, for example, a two foot high cardboard box.

Signaling materials:

1 unsharpened pencil
1 dish towel
1 rubber band
1 wooden paint stirrer
1 ping pong ball

Note: Any common household objects would do for signaling materials.

Directions:

In part 1 (5 minutes), your team must decide who will be the architects and who will be the builders, and develop a signaling system using only the materials provided, no body language or facial expressions. The team will be able to see the building materials, but will not know what the design of the structure is until part 2.

Before part 2 begins, the judge will build a structure with one set of building materials one one side of the screen, so that it can be seen by the architects but not by the builders.

In part 2 (3 minutes) the architects will signal to the builders to instruct them in the construction of a duplicate structure on their side of the screen. The architects will not be able to see the builders' structure as it is taking shape.

Scoring:

2 points for each block that is correctly placed.
1 - 20 points for the creativity and effectiveness of the signaling system.
1 - 20 points for how well you work together as a team.