The Odyssey of the Mind Programme fosters students' creativity and problem-solving skills. The OM Programme inspires students to solve problems by using their creativity, knowledge and curiosity.
More importantly, OM teaches that great minds do not necessarily think alike and often march to different drummers; that there are no right answers; and that all creative solutions come from teamwork, cooperation and risk-taking.
History
A Professor started the OM programme in the United States in 1978. An OM Association Incorporation was formed to hold local and international competitions.
Initially, only 28 schools in New Jersey participated. Today, it has touched millions of students and was extended to over 50 countries or regions, including Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and the Education Department are sharing the mission of introducing OM Programme to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Odyssey of the Mind Steering Committee was established to run the programme in Hong Kong in 1996.
When the OM Programme was introduced to Hong Kong, only 12 secondary schools joined the competition.
In the '99 Regional Competition held in March, there were a total of 44 teams from 31 secondary schools and two teams from two children and youth centres.
How OM runs
Students in the competition have to solve problems in a variety of areas - from building mechanical devices, such as spring-driven vehicles, to interpretations of literary classics.
With the guidance of a coach, five to seven students form a team to work out creative solutions and to test them against those of other teams. There are both long-term and spontaneous questions in the OM competition.
The OM program is divided into four divisions but the regional competition in the SAR only held Division II and Division III. Students for Division II have to be less than 15 years old and those for Division III have to be less than 19 years old.
Champion teams of the regional competition will be sponsored to join the OM World Finals held in the USA. They will compete with about 700 teams from over 20 countries or regions.
Organizer
Ms. Yung Man Yee of the Hong Kong Odyssey of the Mind Steering Committee said, "OM is a programme from which kids develop creativity, work through challenges and build mutual respect in an environment where cooperation, caring and the process are more important than winning.
"We don't intend to create a competitive atmosphere, but a chance to know what the OM competition is like and get well prepared before they join the Division II and Division III competitions," said she.
She also believes that participating in the programme contributes to the students' academic performance. Students can apply creativity and flexibility to their academic work and even to their careers.
Teacher
Kwong Tong Government Secondary School has been participating in the OM Competition since 1996, as it is beneficial to both the school and the students.
Mr. Victor Lau was the school's team coach last year. He believes that participating in the OM Program helps the school earn experience in organizing activities and explore students' creativity.
However, he does think there should be improvements.
First, the OM Programme should simplify its rules as the present regulations of the competition are extremely complicated, unclear and may be misunderstood easily.
"Moreover, the way information is distributed should also be improved. Internet and E-mail should be used more so as to reduce our transportation time attending coach meetings."
Students
Some students do not think joining the OM Competition would improve their academic performance much.
"I know the OM Programme does foster our creativity. It encourages us to be aware of societal news so that we can get new ideas from news and use them to solve problems," said Yuen Wai Yiu, one of the '97 and '98 OM Competition team members of Kwong Tong Government Secondary School.
"After the competition, however, we became less aware of the news as we no longer need to seek new ideas anymore.
"The heavy school workload does not allow us to put effort anymore. It is quite time-consuming to join the OM Programme as we need to use a lot of time for brainstorming, discussion and practice," said she.
