Creative solutions focus of regional competition
True problem solving is not about knowing facts, but about coming up with creative solutions.
That’s the philosophy of Future Problem Solving Program International, whose Illinois chapter held a regional competition Saturday at Fox River Country Day School in Elgin.
A team of students from Fox River Country Day plus three teams from East Aurora Middle School took the stage to present their solution to a hypothetical problem about the challenges a genetics program would face in 2045.
The Fox River Country Day team, composed of fourth-graders Tristan Wenceslao, 9, and Keaten Wood, 9, fifth-grader Christian Acevedo, 11, and sixth-grader Michael Knight, 12, focused on the economic aspect.
Their solution? Lower the price of the genetic service in order to generate more revenue and funnel it into further research.
“It wasn’t very hard, but it wasn’t easy,” Michael said after the team finished presenting their solution with a skit. The team worked together to develop Tristan’s original idea, he added.
The Fox River Country Day team started to prepare for the competition in mid-September by taking part in a problem-solving program after school under the guidance of parent coach Vanessa Wood, Keaten’s mother.
Once the topic of the regional competition was announced, the students began researching different aspects of genetics, such as health, technology and business, said Wood, of Fox River Grove.
On competition day, they were presented with the specific problem to solve, and had two hours to come up with a solution.
“It’s amazing to see them deal with high-level problems and that they can come up with creative, realistic solutions,” she said.
Trevor Steinbach, state director for the Illinois chapter since its inception in 1980, said the program has chapters throughout the United States, plus countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and South Korea.
“We are looking for creativity, analysis, for them to synthesize ideas and evaluate concepts. We are looking for originality in thought,” Steinbach said. “Every 2 ½ years science changes, so we would much rather teach you the tools to think in science rather than the facts.”
On Feb. 13, a panel of judges will evaluate team performances in the various regional contests to select those that will participate in the statewide competition in April.