Academic WorldQuest
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The 2009 Academic WorldQuest competition will be held on April 4, 2009. Please click on the above links to find out more information about the 2009 competition.
Academic WorldQuest is a Flagship Program of the world affairs council system. The game was invented by the Charlotte Council and is now widely played at the adult and high school levels around the country. It is a team game testing competitors' knowledge of international affairs, geography, history, and culture. The World Affairs Councils of America started the national competition in Washington, DC in March 2003. Participants come from high schools that work with the World Affairs Council network.
It is unique to the world affairs council system and has no direct competitor among K-12 knowledge-based competitions in the US or abroad.
WHY ACADEMIC WORLDQUEST IS IMPORTANT
With funding for school programs other than "basics" falling away, the opportunities for high school students to learn geography, world history, and world affairs have dwindled to almost nothing in American high schools while globalization and interdependence continues to knit the world more closely together each passing day and year.
The world affairs council system does a lot to counter this isolationist pedagogical trend already through the making of curriculum units for high schools, the organizing of teachers' workshops, and the sending abroad of teachers and students. We want to build on our already existing and successful programs that seek to reverse this unfortunate and counterproductive educational trend.
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME
The game is a contest between 4-person teams representing a high school, a city, and one of our councils. It is moderated by a prominent person in the field of international affairs or journalism.
Teams compete by answering rounds of questions projected by PowerPoint onto a screen. The questions test their knowledge of current affairs, world leaders, geography, recent history, flags, international organizations, countries, regions, the world economy, culture, religion, and more. A full competition is 100 questions, 10 rounds of 10 questions per round. The winning team is the team with the highest number of right answers.
ORGANIZING LOCAL TEAMS
Local world affairs councils organize the local teams. We require that local councils host a competition to choose the team that they will send.
Local councils support their teams in a variety of ways including contributing towards travel expenses and providing study guides.
If you or your company are interested in sponsoring a team or the national competition, contact WACA.
A team consists of four students. They can be freshman, sophomores, juniors, or seniors. Unlike previous years, we will not be able to accept any alternates or substitutes during the competition unless there is an emergency.
COMPETITION RULE
New in 2007 all teams will have to win a competition in order to qualify for the national competition.
For our purposes, a “competition” will be defined as:
* Schools competing against each other in Academic WorldQuest
* Students from the same school playing Academic WorldQuest
* Schools chosen by the winner of a different international competition
* Students chosen by their individual score in an international competition
THE NATIONAL COMPETITION WEEKEND
The 3-hour competition is embedded in a long weekend of activities in Washington. Friday night is a dinner and mixer.
Beginning in 2007, Academic WorldQuest will be played on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon is free time for the students to explore the monuments and museums in Washington, DC.
Sunday morning is free time for participants to sightsee in Washington, DC.
For more information about getting involved in Academic WorldQuest, contact Laura Reidy, Education Director, at laura@worldaffairscouncils.org