Lunar Olympics
On your mark… get set… design! Students discover how sports arenas, rules, and equipment would change if the Olympic Games were conducted on the Moon. During the process, they learn about the engineering design process and physics concepts such as gravity, velocity, acceleration, and friction. They use free online design and programming tools which help them to improve their conceptions and design skills. This activity was developed to be implemented fully online; however, it could easily be adapted for in-class or hybrid classroom use.
Students design objects and plan for an Olympics on the Moon!Copyright 2020 Gray, Vargas-Ordóñez, & Hynes, Purdue University RET
The Engineering Design Process is one of the core aspects of engineering. This activity proposes a lunar scenario where the students take the active role as engineers, understanding the effect of physics concepts such as gravity, velocity, acceleration, and friction on the design of arenas, rules, and equipment if the Olympic Games were held on the moon.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Describe how sport arenas, rules, and equipment will change if the Olympic Games are done on the Moon
- Communicate the change of sporting elements (arenas, rules, and equipment) for one chosen sport through sketches
- Recognize that engineers use Computer-Aided Design (CAD) to simulate physics in real-world problems
- Illustrate a real-world situation using TinkerCad
- Examine the concepts of gravity, friction, velocity, and acceleration using computer programming software
- Distinguish basic computer coding structures to simulate the movement of a volleyball
- Identify variables that affect the movement of a volleyball
- Manipulate coding language to understand the effect of forces in a volleyball game on the Moon