Future Problem Solving Program of California

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ABOUT CALIFORNIA FPS

Our Mission

We administer an academic program for students in grades 4-12 which focuses on developing a variety of essential skills while students learn and utilize problem solving strategies through classroom activities as well as academic competitions. The program is designed to foster interest in the future and societal issues that will impact the lives of today’s students.

History of the Program

Dr. E. Paul Torrance, a professor of educational psychology from the University of Georgia is the “father” of the Future Problem Solving Program which had its beginnings in 1973 and has since evolved into an international program with 41 affiliate programs and over 250,000 students participating. The California Affiliate began in 1984 and offers several components of the program for student competition.

Future Problem Solving Program Components

Students can participate in the Booklet Component, Community Problem Solving or Scenario Writing.

Booklet Component

Under the guidance of a teacher/coaches, teams of four students in grades 4-12 use the FPSP Six Step Model to explore challenges and propose action plans to complex societal problems, such as Charity giving, Cultural Prejudice, Caring for our Elders, and Privacy.

Teams are divided into three divisions:

Grades 4 - 6 (Junior)

Grades 7 - 9 (Middle)

Grades 10 - 12 (Senior)

Teams complete two practice problems and one qualifying problem throughout the school year. Trained evaluators score student work and return it with feedback including suggestions for improvement. The top scoring teams on the qualifying problem are invited to the State Bowl Competition held each April at a host school in California. The top winners in each division then go on to compete at the International Bowl in June.

This program is also offered as an Individual Booklet competition. Process and divisions are exactly the same as for Team Booklet, however, a student completes the booklet alone. The student completes fewer problems and solutions. All other parts of the booklet are completed in the same format as the Team Booklet.

Community Problem Solving (CmPS)

Teams apply their FPS skills to real problems in their community. A community problem is a problem that exists within the school, local community, region, state or nation. Implementation of the action plan is included in this component. Teams move from hypothetical issues to real world, authentic concerns. Teams may include any number of students and also divided into three divisions based on grade level. The top Community Problem Solving Team projects are invited to the FPSP International Conference in June.

Scenarios

The scenario writing competition gives students the opportunity to explore the future on an individual basis. Students research one of the five competitive program topics and prepare a short story of 1,500 words or less that is set a minimum of 20 years in the future. Scenarios must be related to one of the future problem solving topics but writers do not need to be members of a problem solving team. The first place winner in each division is submitted to FPSP International to be evaluated in the International Scenario Writing Competition.