Carly Deboice of Calgary was looking for a design challenge that would fit into the Alberta (Canada) curriculum for grades 3 and 7, when students focus on designing and testing materials.
As program developer at TELUS World of Science, Carly helps design onsite workshops that complement what students are doing at school. Having recently learned of howtosmile.org at an Association of Science-Technology Centers conference, she plugged 'design challenge' into SMILE's search window.
Up popped a list of more than 250 hands-on activities that qualify as design challenges. Narrowing down further (the advanced search lets you search by age, learning time, cost, materials, and a host of other criteria), she zeroed in on Thrill Ride, a Rube Goldberg-like roller coaster for marbles.
The price was right—an estimated $1 to $5 per group of students—as was the learning time (from 30 to 45 minutes). And the activity seemed appealingly open-ended. Carly says she likes to "involve the students in some sort of challenge, where you as the facilitator can be surprised by the outcome."
Though in the past TELUS has mostly had students come to them, the science center is in a period of transition as it works towards opening its new location this fall. So Carly took Thrill Ride on the road, bringing along all the tubing, marbles, and toilet paper rolls she thought she'd need.
How'd it go? So well, in fact, that Carly is now using the activity with a variety of audiences. "It always brings smiles," she says. "Every time you facilitate it, people come up with something new to celebrate."
After she'd done the activity several times, Carly posted an online comment suggesting that educators use the same materials again and again, each time they do the activity with different groups. Her comment even links to her supplier of choice.
Read more about Carly, TELUS, and how one out-of-school educator deals with the locally mandated curriculum.