As you may have previously read in our posts “Why PLP Loves Destination Imagination” and “PLP Prepares for Destination Imagination“, the PLP teaching team and students were very excited to be participating in Destination Imagination’s regional and provincial tournaments for the fourth year in a row.
The Lower Mainland Regional Tournament took place at Seycove Secondary (our home school) on February 29. It was a crazy day! With 10 PLP teams entered in grades 8 and 9, as well as being the hosts, your PLP teaching team and students were pretty busy! Luckily we had all the PLP 11 and 12 students volunteering in the tournament rooms and running the snack bar in the cafeteria (as a fundraiser for their Asia Field Study – more on that to come!). Plus we had some amazing other volunteers from Humanities 10 and the school at large. Without these volunteers, the day would not have been a success!
And what a success! Many of the PLP teams finished in the top 3 in their challenges. Low Budget Bridges Co. in Middle Level Engineering and Wingin’ It in Secondary Level Improv both won their Instant Challenges against the tournament teams. Additionally, DIWHY Bridges in Secondary Level Engineering and ERROR 404 in Secondary Level Technical won both their Instant Challenge and Team Challenge against their competitors.
Next up was to be the British Columbia Destination Imagination Provincial Tournament on April 4 – a date that has hung in the PLP classroom since last June.
However, we all know what happened next. On March 17, 2020, BC’s schools were shut down. As of this date, we are still not open. So, of course, the provincial tournament was cancelled. But what about all the hard work of the PLP teams?
All 10 PLP teams – all our PLP grade 8 and 9 students – had put countless hours into thinking, researching, planning, drafting, prototyping, revising, and rehearsing for this tournament. The PLP teaching team just couldn’t let all that learning go unshared! So today, April 6, 2020 marked the first ever PLP Online Destination Imagination Provincial Tournament!
As our invitation to students and parents read, “It’s Destination Imagination Provincial Tournament time! OK, as it turns out it won’t happen quite like we expected (like everything else…) but we can still have our own tournament!”. Nothing stops a PLP learner!
Instructions for the Online Tournament.
Last week (the first week back after spring break), we met online with every PLP class and explained our crazy plan to host an online tournament. So how did we do it?
We started by giving the students the instructions in the image here to prepare.
Of course, being 1:1 with iPad truly allows PLP students to collaborate anytime and anywhere, so the PLP teaching team was not concerned about that piece. However, we were worried about other things. Would the students manage to collaborate? Could they even make a challenge solution with most of their props locked in the school? Would students even invest time in this learning with current events as they are?
The answer to all our questions was: an enthusiastic yes!
Over the past week, the PLP teams met online and first planned their revisions. Many teams chose to use a virtual backdrop to replace their props. Some teams had to create entirely new solutions from household items. Other teams improved their solutions by using the online technology! (Keep an eye on our learner portfolios to see posts coming this week about the challenges they faced in preparing for this tournament and how they solved them!)
A team presenting to their teachers and a special past DI participant studying abroad in Switzerland this year in the online tournament. They even presented a dance!
In the end, 100% of the team members attended today, presenting their team challenge to an online audience and then returning later to breakout rooms to compete with their team in an instant challenge. It wasn’t perfect. There is no replacing the face to face connection of a live tournament, but it honoured our students’ learning. And there was nothing better for us PLP teachers to see. We celebrate you, PLP 8 and 9, for your hard work, your bravery, and your true commitment to learning. Well done!