MESA Design Challenge Specifications
MESA Day is our annual statewide competition. Middle and high schools enrolled in MESA will bring teams to present their design in response to the following engineering design challenges. Individual awards are presented to teams that place first through sixth place in each of the design challenges and trophies are presented to the schools that place first through third overall.
MESA Day is a celebration of STEM, and in addition to bringing students together to present their projects and compete ,there are various STEM activities from our industry, non-profit, and higher education partners for student engagement and continued learning.
To ensure a positive experience for everyone our director has drafted the following message about Student Expectations and Mediation Process for MESA Day.
For this project, student teams will identify an avoidable challenge that affects members of their community. Teams will then interview affected community members to understand how they are affected, and then employ human-centered design practices to engineer a solution. Teams must use a coding element in their design.
Resources:
- Human Centered Design - A quick video that describes human centered design.
- Human Centered Design Help - Some useful tools for interviewing clients, types of questions, initial prototyping, and much more.
- MESA USA Curriculum - Curriculum for all MESA states focusing on the NEDC
- Arduino Programming Course- A nice walk through of how the programming language works in an Arduino.
- Sparkfun - An educational space from SparkFun dedicated to Arduino.
- MakeCode - Microsoft provides a virtual environment for students to learn how to program Micro:Bit and Circuit Playground Express
- Using Arduino with Tinkercad - Includes virtual demos of wiring and use of sensors and buttons.
- Paul McWhoter YouTube Channel - A series of 35 videos that go in depth on Arduino construction and programming.
- Makerspaces - A resource for beginners and how the Arduino works
- Poster Design Template - A PowerPoint file with 2 design ideas and a blank slide to design a poster. Meets the size requirement for the poster.
- Questions to Answer - A series of questions for teams to answer as they work through the challenge
- Pitch Example - A TED talk about a design to help premature babies.
- Project Invent Resource Library - Includes info on Design Thinking and an Arduino Crash Course.
Students will design and present a Sustainability idea for a site in their community that is centered around an art installation with sustainable renewable energy features, which can include solar, hydro, wind, and biofuels. Teams will create a model and poster to present their idea.
Resources:
- Aspects of project that might be emphasized: https://padlet.com/michelle_e_jord/pvsc-library-kud13ira3hp0b22g
- Land Art Generator
- Organic Photo Voltaics Research
- Hydroelectric Power Generation formula with explanation
- Wind Energy Power Generation formula with calculator
- Green Building Learning Lab - resources from the US Green Building Council on building for environmental sustainability and LEED certification.
- ECORise Sustainable Intelligence Program - Teachers in Arizona qualify for free access to this curriculum.
- Poster Template - A template for the poster. The first 2 slides are design ideas, the 3rd slide is blank for teams to use.
Teams will design a glider that carries a payload of 2 ping pong balls (middle school) or 4 ping pong balls (high school) that, when launched, will land on a target that is 34 feet away. An obstacle will be placed 10 feet from the launching mechanism. Any team whose glider flies over the obstacle will have their score doubled.
Resources
Students will design a remote-controlled robot that mimics a real animal (alive or extinct) in look, shpae, and attack/defense. Teams will also create a design poster to highlight the design, construction, and testing of the project.
Resources:
- Combat Robot Videos from Arizona MESA
- New Mexico Tech Robot Combat Program Videos
- Purchase Micro:Bit from STEM Education Works
- Starter Robot A simple robot from Instructables that can be used to start students thinking. **This is not a complete robot**
- BattleBots - can be used for inspiration for your design. **NOTE**- these are outside MESA specifications
- Camp Witch Doctor Curriculum - Building a bot curriculum from Team Witch Doctor
- Starter Code - some starter code for micro:bit that can be used as a starting point for controlling the robot remotely
- RC with Micro:bit - An Instrucible with directions on how to create a remote control system using two Micro:bits
- RC Youtube - A YouTube with code on creating an RC controller with one Micro:bit
- Poster Template - A template for the poster. The first 2 slides are design ideas, the 3rd slide is blank for teams to use.
Students will participate in teams to solve beginner and intermediate level cybersecurity puzzles. Subject areas will include Cryptography, Linux Basics, Networking Basics, and OSINT (Open Source Intelligence Gathering). This event will be done live at MESA Day.
Resources:
- MESA Cyber Site - The site, with practice, for the challenge
- Free Code Camp - list of basic linux commands
- Cyberchef - a web app for encryption, encoding, compression and data analysis. This will help with the OSINT questions.
- Cheatography - a collection of cheat sheets and quick references. Will be helpful for linux questions.
- Crypto Club - A great resource for beginning cryptography
- CS Unplugged Cryptography - CSUnplugged activities
- Coding For Kids - A great explanation of what a program does.
- Trifid Cipher - An interesting cipher.
- Standards in MESA - Hack Attack.pdf
Teams will design highways, using the approved map as a guide, to improve traffic flow in Phoenix to make driving easier. Teams will present their design and address why the highways are needed, how they will improve traffic, and how traffic speeds will improve. Teams will also create a poster to highlight the reasoning they chose, the new map, and a data analysis of traffic.
Resources:
- Daily Traffic Data: https://www.phoenixopendata.com/dataset/street-traffic-volumes
- State of Arizona Traffic Data: https://azdot.gov/planning/data-and-information
- ArcGIS data: https://mapping-phoenix.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/street-traffic-volumes
- Maricopa Association of Governments: https://azmag.gov/Programs/Maps-and-Data
Teams will design a boat made of primarily paper that travels a distance of 6 feet in a box gutter as fast as possible while powered by a handheld fan and not making contact with the sides of the gutter
No materials that are waterproof are allowed. Teams will also create a design poster to highlight the design, construction, and testing of the project.
Resources
Teams will demonstrate teamwork and creative problem solving skills by working collaboratively to design, construct and test a given objective/device within a specific period of time. The objective/device will be revealed at MESA Day.
Resources
- Type of Teamwork - A nice video to have students reflect on effective and ineffective teamwork.
- Engineering Challenges from Science Buddies - good practice challenges