Future Problem Solving
St. Anne School’s Future Problem Solving (FPS) program is designed to develop research, critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork abilities in students grades 3 through 8. The program melds the demanding intellectual challenge of creative problem solving with an interdisciplinary study of the future and promotes interpersonal communication, ethical leadership, and responsible group membership through its various components.
Students learn how to:
- Research topics broadly and discerningly
- Dissect and structure complex problems
- Brainstorm creatively
- Collaborate through teamwork under time pressure
- Develop informed, transparent decision-making
Through participation in the program, students research three to four topics a year in depth and explore social, political, economic, and technological implications. Students meet weekly and participate in two practice rounds to prepare for competitive events that can advance them to the annual state bowl and annual international competitions.
Multiple measures are used to identify candidates for the Future Problem Solving Program at St. Anne School. Students chosen for this program are invited based on a combination of MAP test scores, OLSAT scores, current standing in the program, and criteria-based teacher recommendation. Based on these criteria, invitations for the following year are sent out to students in the spring.
FPS students compete in the Global Issues Problem Solving (GIPS). GIPS is a competitive component of FPSPI which can be accomplished as a team of four or as an individual activity in which participants research a series of global topics and learn a six-step creative problem solving process. Problem solvers apply their topic and creative problem solving knowledge to address a charge presented in an imagined situation, termed Future Scene.
