General Description

During this 18-week 6th grade course, students engage in four sequential challenges that guide them through an exploration of the engineering design process and entrepreneurial thinking in the context of a carnival. The course begins with students making a sales pitch for a new carnival food stand based on market research. Students then run experiments using a pneumatic catapult and design a new carnival game board with appropriate odds of winning. After developing skills in engineering drawing, students re-design the catapult cradle to change the performance characteristics of their carnival game. During Carnival Tycoon, students incorporate and practice multiple math and science skills, including data visualization, probability, experimental design, profit calculations, drawing, and measurement.

Challenges

Below are brief descriptions of each of the challenges in the Carnival Tycoon 6th Grade STEM-ID course. To access the course materials and instructional details, click on the individual challenge titles. Prior to starting this course you should acquire and assemble the catapults, projectiles, and landing boards as described in the course preparation materials linked from the site's main page.

Carnival Tycoon Data Challenge (10-12 days, approx. 50 min each day)

In this challenge, students respond to a simple survey asking them basic background information, such as their number of siblings and favorite dessert. This exercise introduces students to the concept of data and its many forms. Students then watch a ‘Shark Tank’ video that introduces them to the idea of marketing and entrepreneurship. Students study how to use data to make an effective sales pitch for a product, and they make their own sales pitches based on the class survey data and some additional research. Students are asked to develop a sign or logo for their food stand to be incorporated as visual media into their presentation.

Carnival Tycoon Systems Challenge (13-15 days, approx. 50 min each day)

Students are challenged to redesign a carnival game. They begin by conducting market research—playing existing carnival games and documenting the probability of winning. They are then presented with a pneumatic catapult and are asked to design a ‘game board’ onto which 3D printed balls will be launched. The game board should have certain areas designated as ‘winning’ zones. Students learn to establish sound experimental procedures and explore the basics of how the pneumatic system works before they develop their design concept. They test this concept for validity by performing many trials, and present their design to the class along with an explanation of their expected profit for the game.

Carnival Tycoon Visualization Challenge (5-10 days, approx. 50 min each day)

Students learn the basics of isometric and orthographic sketching by drawing simple geometries and cube configurations. Students must review the notions of planes and how planes relate to how objects are viewed in three dimensions. Students explore the idea of hidden lines in engineering drawings, and learn to translate drawings to design artifacts and vice-versa.

Carnival Tycoon Design Challenge (13-15 days, approx. 50 min each day)

The Challenge: Carnival ride operators have asked for a better way to return the rafts from the end of the ‘River Rapids’ ride back to a holding tank. Using the pneumatic catapult, students must re-design the end effector, or ‘cradle’, to launch these rafts back into the holding tank efficiently at the end of the day. Students must draw their designs, fabricate prototypes using folded card stock, and test their designs using proper experimental procedures. At the conclusion, students present their designs at a final design review.