Bridge Challenge

You are designing/building....then re-designing/building four summer fab lab projects based on sustainable consumption principles (re-design the projects based on re-use of materials to reduce consumption of materials).

Your goal for sustainable design is to reuse 9V batteries, connectors, wires, toy motors and popsicle sticks.

In Groups of 3 or 4, you will complete the following projects in any sequence you choose: Fat Head, Compound Machine, Beetlebot, Gravity Car

Formative Assessments (40 marks [Demo Day]; 40 marks {Web Post] - Document your making progress with photos and video of each device posted on your web site. Your Web Post should include documentation of the initial designs made without using Sustainable Design Principles....to include:

• One glam shot (photo) and one video for each project
• An initial bill of material for each project and a combined bill of materials
• Performance of each device (distance, speed, runtime, etc.)

Summative Assessment (80 marks [Demo Day]; 200 marks [Web Post] - Your Web Post should include documentation of the first iteration designs made without using Sustainable Design Principles with side-by-side comparisons of your second iteration designs made using Sustainable Design Principles ....to include:

• Side-by-side photos and side-by-side video for each project
• A final bill of material spreadsheet (Google Spreadsheet) showing material used on each project; material returned for reuse; and overall consumption and net reduction in material using Sustainable Design Principles - all easily viewed in your spreadsheet. You are being assessed on the visual presentation of complex data
• A complete bill of materials (including total costs and unit costs) for a class of 15 makers to build these four projects using conventional design techniques wherein the makers take home their finished projects; and a second version based on reduced consumption of materials using Sustainable Design Principles including disassembly and recovery of materials for reuse.
• Write a reflection on commenting on the savings that are possible if Sustainable Consumption Principles are part of the makerspace experience
• Reflection (as part of the Summative Assessment - what special guidance did you have to provide to encourage consumable consumption? How did consumable consumption affect learning for you? How does it change the conduct of this exercise? This Final Web Post Reflection should be done in IB Design-Tech Style - with five separate, coherent themes, with four (4) separate bullet headline/arguments per theme

Reference: Design-Tech Wiki 8.2 Sustainable Consumption

Aim/Learning Target

How using resources more productively and redesigning production -- it is technically possible to deliver the same or equivalent goods and services with lower environmental impact while maintaining social and equity benefits.

Sustainable consumption focuses on reducing the use of resources of a product to minimize its environmental impact.