Greenpark School: The future's problem solvers

The team from Greenpark School has won the Y division at New Zealand's national Future Problem Solving competition;Left to right - Mahnoor Qadri, Ethan Valois, Galadriel Cass and Megan Cherry

Solving present day problems is difficult enough - but problems that don't even exist yet? Very tricky.

Four pupils from Greenpark School have shown, however, that with preparation and intelligence, tricky can be done. Mahnoor Qadri, Ethan Valois, Galadriel Cass and Megan Cherry won the Y division of the recent Future Problem Solving New Zealand National Finals in Auckland.

They secured the winner's trophy by tackling some of the future land transportation problems of Beijing. They knew the theme of the scenario, but had no idea about the details.

"All they knew prior to the contest was that the scenario would relate to land transportation," says coach Lynne Mossop.

"They researched a lot about future land transportation and decided it would be faster, more comfortable and entertaining." Galadriel says at the competition,the quartet had to read the scenario and identify 10 problems.

"Then we had to decide on an underlying problem we wanted to solve the most and devise 10 solutions and an action plan for one we thought was the best solution," Galadriel says.

"Then we had to do a dramatic presentation," says Ethan.

In preparation,the pupils completed practice assignments during term one and two, and
each was returned to the organisers for feedback.In term three they did the qualification
assignment, under exam conditions. That was sent away to be assessed.

It was only at the start of this term they found out they had reached the final. "They learned a lot about about global issues. Before they started, [they] didn't even know what things like social isolation, surveillance and desertification were," Lynne says.

"They are bright kids and this is possibly one of the first things they have done that they have really had to work at." Peter Scott, who, with a colleague,initially introduced Future Problem Solving into New Zealand in 1990, supported the team in their preparation for the final.