“To dream and to plan, to be curious about the future and to wonder how much it can be influenced by our efforts are important aspects of being human.” Dr. E Paul Torrance, founder of Future Problem Solvers NZ.

Future Problem Solving has grown this year at Riccarton High School with 15 students signing up at the beginning of the year. Students train every Friday lunch with Sally Brown (School Librarian), Jack Gibson (Maths Teacher) and Hugh Ryan (Year 11 student). 

Last year we focused on Stepping Stones while we found our way with Future Problem Solving. This year we have two teams competing in Global Issues Problem Solving (GIPS) and one team doing Stepping Stones.

Future Problem Solving is an international programme where students, working in teams, learn and apply a six-step problem solving process. As a team they apply the process to consider the challenges and issues contained within complex social and scientific problems, set 30 years or more in the future. This term our topic is building green and is focusing on floating cities.

The programme encourages students to carry out research, think creatively and critically, to apply ethical skills and to work as part of a team.

Goals of the Programme:

· To develop an active interest in the future

· To encourage creative thinking

· To develop critical and analytical skills

· To strengthen oral and written communication skills

· To present an effective problem-solving model

· To develop research techniques

· To work co-operatively in teams.

Check out Christchurch student, Hannah Hudson’s Tedtalk about why FPS is so great - Give our youth the gift of problem solving | Hannah Hudson | TEDxChristchurch