Up to 7 members can be on a team, and students from kindergarten through university level can participate.

Each team needs an adult Team Manager. Team Managers help students stay on track but do not directly help the team develop its solution to the DI Challenge. Team Managers are often school staff members or parents.

DI fosters students’ curiosity, courage and creativity as they solve Challenges together as a team. A big part of our program is the Interference policy: in short, kids have to imagine, create and develop solutions on their own. Parents, Team Managers, family and friends cannot suggest ideas or force teams in certain directions. Outsiders can facilitate the acquisition of skills and knowledge.

There are seven new Challenges to choose from each year. Each of the Challenges is developed by a team of educators and industry experts who target a particular area of the curriculum and its related standards of content and performance. The areas of focus include: Technical, Scientific, Fine Arts, Improvisational, Structural, and Service Learning.

There is also a non-competitive Early Learning Challenge that allows K-2 children to further develop their social skills and nurtures their curiosity and creativity.

Each season opens in September, when the Challenges are released. Depending on the Challenge, teams typically spend 3 to 6 months developing and practicing their solution to their selected Challenge.

Teams will showcase their Challenge solution at the first tournament of the season, which takes place in February. All teams have the opportunity to advance all the way to participate in the final tournament of the season—DI Global Finals—which takes place in May in Kansas City.

While most schools run DI as an after-school program, some districts incorporate the program into their elective curriculum. Our tournaments provide the opportunity for participants to celebrate creativity with their peers and promote healthy competition. Every year, local volunteers help run 200 tournaments around the world.

Participants learn and experience the creative process from imagination to innovation, which fosters their curiosity, courage and creativity. Students in our program learn higher order thinking and improve in creative and critical thinking while learning to work together as a team. Participants also have the opportunity to develop new friendships with students.

Teams choose one of the seven Challenges. After months spent creating and developing their solutions, they go to a local tournament. Top-scoring teams advance to their state or country tournament, also known as an Affiliate Tournament. The top tier teams from each Affiliate Tournament have the opportunity to participate in Global Finals—the world’s largest celebration of creativity.