Sheridan Hills Students to Represent Minnesota in International Future Problem Solving Competition.

After qualifying at the regional level, two Sheridan Hills Future Problem Solving teams competed and earned top honors at the State Future Problem Solving Competition on Saturday, March 21st. They earned multiple awards in both the Written and Presentation of Action Plan competitions. The top four teams in the Junior Division, grades four through six, were selected to represent the state of Minnesota at the International Future Problem Solving Competition (IC) June 11 - 14, 2015. Two of the four teams selected to represent Minnesota at IC were from Sheridan Hills. Our fourth and fifth graders competed against elite teams from wealthy suburbs and other powerhouse teams from around the state. Many of the teams were sixth grade teams, making the competition even more difficult for our younger students. Earning top honors in the State FPS Competition and berths at IC is a huge achievement for our teams.

Participating in the International Future Problem Solving Competition will give our students the opportunity to meet and forge friendships with creative problem solvers from around the world. It will give them the opportunity to compete at the highest level, against state and national champions. Since the students will be staying on campus at Iowa State University, the IC experience will also give them a taste of university life, opening their eyes to their educational futures.

We need your help!
Many of our families are unable to cover the registration fees for their children. A webpage http://www.gofundme.com/SheridanHillsFPS has been set up for donations. For more information about FPS or this competition, please visit http://www.fpspi.org/internationalconference.html or contact Molly Illes at mmcbucket@yahoo.com.

About our Extraordinary FPS Coach
The Sheridan Hills Future Problem Solving teams are coached by Sheila Johnston, Gifted Education teacher for the Richfield School District. Johnston has been coaching FPS for over 20 years. She has coached FPS state champions in the junior, middle, and senior divisions, and she has taken many FPS teams from the Lakeville, Minneapolis, and Richfield school districts to IC during her FPS coaching career. In 2014 she received the WEM Foundation Award for Outstanding Academic Challenge Coach. Johnston is retiring this year, so attending this IC may be her last.

About FPS
The Future Problem Solving Program (FPS) stimulates critical and creative thinking skills and encourages students to develop a vision for the future. Recognizing the world as an interdependent global community, the Future Problem Solving Program involves students annually from Australia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, and most states within the USA.

The FPS program meets standards for curriculum in language arts, social studies, science, the arts, geography, civics, technology, life skills, and behavioral studies. FPS provides opportunities for students to develop and exercise the skills necessary to meet and exceed these standards through research and investigation of topics relevant to the students’ world. Each year FPS topics are selected from three strands: business and economics, science and technology, and social and political issues.

Working in teams of four, students conduct research on the selected topics and then use the six-step FPS problem solving model to address the challenge. As they tackle the problem, they are involved in challenging vocabulary development and writing for a specific purpose. Throughout the process students are engaged in critical and creative thinking, and are developing cooperative problem solving skills. Once students learn this process, it can be applied to almost any problem in life. Future Problem Solving teaches students how to think, not what to think. Future Problem Solving prepares students to be leaders now and in the future!