Competition Process

To participate in Future Problem Solving, connect with your local Future Problem Solving program on our website. If your location is not listed, you can sign up for our Open Affiliate.   Students can choose to compete in any of our core programs, Global Issues, Community Projects, Creative Writing, Storytelling, or in one of our Challenges. Due dates and submission requirements are dependent on a student’s location. Champions in any of the core programs at the affiliate/local level are invited to compete at our world finals, the International Conference, in June each year on a college campus.  Global Issues: In this program, students learn to thoroughly research and analyze real world issues and use our proven 6-step problem-solving method to develop relevant action plans. They apply this knowledge plus divergent and convergent thinking skills to imagined future scenarios in our competitions. After researching and analyzing a topic, students get two hours during competitions to complete our 6-step problem-solving process for a given future situation. Community Projects: Our Community Projects program encourages students to apply our problem-solving process in their communities to create lasting change. Students use our problem-solving process when developing their project proposal. They then focus on implementing their project action plan while documenting their progress in a project report and supporting materials like a portfolio. Creative Writing: Our Creative Writing program provides an opportunity to create an original story based on one of the topics for the current competition season. Students pick one of the four annual problem topics on which to write a related short story in 1500 words or less. The Creative Writing program strives to help students enlarge, enrich, and make more accurate their image of the future, while refining their writing skills. Storytelling: Our Storytelling program provides an opportunity to create and present an original oral narrative based on one of the topics for the current competition season. Students create a story and relate it in a live five minute performance. The story makes a prediction of the future set 20-30 years from now and is told as if the future were the present. The Storytelling program strives to help students enlarge, enrich, and make more accurate their image of the future, while refining their composition skills. Challenges: Usually offered in September, the Challenges program is a great entry into Future Problem Solving. Students get a 3 week window to analyze a specific current problem, apply our 6-step problem-solving process, and develop an action plan. This challenge is an introductory experience to our signature Global Issues program.

Judging Criteria

Our rubric-based evaluations provide learner-focused feedback through authentic assessment to strengthen student skills. The feedback from certified evaluators on multiple submissions each year assesses how well students demonstrate learning and drives continual improvement for growth over time. Since there is no single “right” answer, our evaluations employ a variety of strategies to review student work. Performance-based evaluations assess submissions using specific criteria at each problem-solving step and overall. We take extra care to provide specific, detailed feedback in each evaluation that students and their coaches can use to develop and improve their skills. While authentic assessment of student learning always comes first, we also depend on our uniform evaluation guidelines to provide a fair, consistent, and reliable method for competition scoring. All evaluators must certify separately in each Future Problem Solving program they wish to evaluate. Global Issues: Evaluations assess student work at each problem solving step and overall. You can read specifics about Global Issues evaluation on our website. Community Projects: Evaluations assess student work in multiple stages starting with the proposal. You can read specifics about Community Projects evaluation evaluation on our website. Creative Writing: Evaluations consider aspects ranging from style and mechanics to creativity. You can read specifics about Creative Writing evaluation evaluation on our website. Storytelling: Evaluations provide feedback to develop and improve creative storytelling skills. You can read specifics about Storytelling evaluation on our website.

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Website: http://www.fpspi.org/

Managing Organization: Future Problem Solving

Registration Dates