MURRUMBURRAH PUBLIC SCHOOL

‘Learn to Live’

 T.O.M Group 1

On the 15^th of August 2007, 2 teams of 7 students travelled to Wagga to compete in the Tournament Of Minds Challenge.

Both teams competed well, although neither of the teams made it through to a higher level. There was a long term challenge and a short term challenge.

The people in group 1 were….

Murray Smith
Bree Goodlock
Miranda Simmons
Nikki Sargeant
Steven Cross
Isabella Flanery and
Jacob West

 Group 1 - short term challenge 

 The challenge was that there was a house in the middle of the forest with a dog-fish in it.  There was a cup of engine oil on the window sill. The dog-fish barked. The challenge was to come up with an interesting idea for why there was a cup on the window sill, why he barked and why he lived in the middle of a forest.  What happened next? Read on to find out! 

Group 1 - answer  

We thought that the cup was there because that was his launching spot to get into town without getting caught by the big bad wolf. He barks because when he was landing he needs to get everyone out of the way.

 T.O.M Group 2

 On the 15^th of August 2007, 2 teams of seven students travelled to Wagga. Group 2 completed a long Term Challenge as well as a Spontaneous Challenge. Our choice was Math’s engineering. The group 2 team was.

 Martin Brown
Jessica Sargent
Josh Tonpi
Winona Grey
Ellie Barker
Katie Herne
Patrick Gaudie

 Spontaneous Challenge

In the Spontaneous Challenge we were given a problem and we had five minutes to complete it in the craziest way possible. Our problem was: A house in the middle of the forest with a dog-fish in it and there was a cup of engine oil on the window sill. What happened next? So read on to find out. 

Answer

We said there was a silly man who left his lawnmower running and a fish swallowed it.

Then the oil got too hot and it burnt a hole in the lawnmower. The fish started barking (coughing) it up into the mug, on the window sill.

NSW STATE TOURNAMENT OF MINDS

 2^nd place with Honours

On Sunday 10^th September seven Year 5 / 6 students from Murrumburrah Public School participated in the NSW Tournament of Minds at New South Wales University, Kensington, taking 2^nd place with Honours.  Had the team come first place at State Level they would have proceeded to the National Titles in Adelaide at the end of October representing NSW. 

MPS students formed part of the Riverina team to compete at the State Finals.  There were three disciplines ‘Social Science’, ‘Language Literature’ and ‘Maths Engineering’.  Six teams in total made up the Riverina team including both Primary and Secondary divisions.

MPS students represented the Riverina in Maths Engineering after winning their division on Saturday 26^th August at regional level held at Kildare Catholic College, Wagga. 

At State level students participated in two challenges, firstly, a five minute unseen spontaneous challenge and then a three hour challenge.

 The Spontaneous Challenge included the problem of creating an extra button on a calculator and describing what this button looked like, how it worked and why it was useful.  Students were given four minutes to read the problem and form their solution.  Students then had one minute to deliver their response to the judges.

 The Maths Engineering challenge titled ‘Strike Out’, required the students, whilst in lock-down, to devise and construct a device for delivering a sphere (a table tennis ball) to the launch area by rolling it down a ramp and immediately firing it at a target using a pendulum.

 All teams participating in this discipline were given the same instructions and a box of materials to use to construct their apparatus.  After the three hour lock-down the teams then delivered a 10 minute presentation which detailed how they solved their problem.  This was delivered in the form of drama play.  During this demonstration teams had to explain their scenario situation, how and why their launch approach and apparatus would work and demonstrate the launch.

 The students have worked enthusiastically with Mrs Price over a period of 6 weeks, employing design, teamwork, communication and maths strategies to create their prize winning presentations.

 The skills learned with Mrs Price were then translated into the competition challenges required at the State Tournament.

 Students were very excited with their win and have tales to tell of performing in front of 2000 people at the University of New South Wales.

 This joint school and CAP (Country Area Program) has benefited the students, school and the community.  This is our second second place at a State level in the last month.  Students from Year 2 to Year 6 have earned these wonderful academic accolades.