Prompt
In this exercise, students will work together to create a variety of obstacle courses to challenge their creative problem-solving and building skills to ensure the safety of a payload (ping-pong ball).
In this activity, you will create an obstacle course that must transport your ping-pong ball from point A to point B.
Materials: Lo-fi materials (paper, cardboard, tape, rubber bands, fasteners, wire, popsicle sticks, etc) and lo-fi tools (scissors, hot glue gun, box cutters, etc.) and ping pong balls.
Instructions
- Divide into teams of 2-4 students and randomly "pick out of the hat" TWO simple machines to incorporate into your obstacle course.
- Learn more about each simple machine found in the resources tab.
- With your team, brainstorm multiple ways your obstacle could look like. Create detailed sketches of your concepts.
- Get feedback from your coaches and solidify your idea
- As a team, begin developing your obstacle course using low-fidelity prototyping materials provided by your teacher (e.g., paper, cardboard, tape, zip-ties, etc.).
- Go around the room and test all the obstacle course!
Your obstacle course should include the following:
- Destination point A and point B, marked clearly on the course
- The two simple machine mechanics that you randomly selected.
- Objects that go through the obstacle course (e.g. a donut hole, or alternative like ping-pong ball, etc.)
Deliverables
- An obstacle course that meets the needs above.
- Photos, gifs, and videos of your obstacle course