Students are challenged to design a toy or gadget for someone their age who is moving to Mars.
Open to students of all ages in South Australia.
Designs can be created using free 3D design tools from Makers Empire or simply with pen and paper.
The most creative, useful and cool designs will feature in the Space to Dream public exhibition.
Take the Challenge
Design a toy or gadget for someone your age who is moving to Mars.
Use design thinking to help you:
START HERE
TIP: click on each planet to explore the design thinking process and complete the Challenge!
STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3
STEP 4
STEP 5
CHALLENGE COMPLETE
Hand your finished ‘Make It!’ Student Design Record to your teacher
Optional DETAILED RESOURCE PACK FOR TEACHERS
(ZIP file, 12MB)
Here is the Downloadable Resource Pack as a zip file.
It contains:
- Lesson notes F-10
- Curriculum links
- Assessment Rubrics
- Activity Sheets x 6
- PowerPoint for class
Submit your school’s TOP 3 designs
Schools can submit finished designs from up to 3 students. Schools have complete flexibility in how they decide upon the selection.
Schools can view and compare designs made with Makers Empire by their own students either (a) at the time they are created or (b) later. Where schools wish to view the designs later, schools can search via Username in the Makers Empire gallery (each student completing the Challenge will have handed up a ‘MAKE IT!’ Student Design Record which will include their Makers Empire Username they used to complete their design). Alternatively, schools that subscribe to Makers Empire will be able to access students’ designs in the Teacher’s Dashboard. Schools wishing to view and compare hand-drawn designs by their students can do so using the collected ‘MAKE IT!’ Student Design Records.
Rewards
The best designs (as judged by the Commissioner) will feature in the Space to Dream public exhibition.
Selected designs will be on show in the Commissioner’s Virtual Gallery.
The registered school that submits the best design will win a 3D printer donated by Makers Empire.
Every child completing the Challenge earns a Space to Dream Certificate of Achievement from the Commissioner.
*Terms and conditions apply. Please refer to the Full Terms and Conditions for more information.
Key Dates
27 Jan 2021
CHALLENGE OPENS
2 July 2021
SCHOOL REGISTRATIONs CLOSE
24 Sep 2021
CHALLENGE Closes - Challenge Completion Forms Due Today
October 2021
WINNERS ANNOUNCED
November 2021
Exhibition OF TOP-RATED DESIGNS
Promotional Materials
Download posters, flyers, social media assets and more to share news of the Challenge with other teachers, parents and families and students at your school:
Poster for schools
(PDF, 3MB)
Problem solver poster
(PDF, 6MB)
Social Media Assets
(JPG, 729KB)
Space to Dream gif for social media
(GIF, 3MB)
EXTEND YOUR DIGITAL LEARNING HERE
A range of free resources, videos, materials and challenges to take you further on your digital learning journey.
Commissioner's Message
Despite the considerable disruption we all faced in 2020, an estimated 20,000 children and young people across South Australia still completed my annual design thinking (Space to Dream) and digital thinking (Learn to Speak Robot) challenge.
This year I’ve introduced a third Challenge that sits alongside Space to Dream and Learn to Speak Robot, completing the suite.
Zoom Out is my new systems thinking challenge, because 21st Century Citizens need to be able to approach problems with a big picture mindset. Empowered with this knowledge, the next generation will see that problems present opportunities for better and brighter ways of doing things.
Our future requires bold thinkers who know how to create intelligent and out-of-the-box solutions.
If you’re a young person, take the Challenge today! If you’re an educator, register now to get the Challenge happening at your school. If you’re a community group leader, run the Challenge in your unit. If you’re a librarian, register your library and promote the Challenge using the free posters and graphic assets.
Let’s work together to encourage as many children and young people in South Australia as possible to take a journey towards digital empowerment in 2021!
Helen Connolly
Commissioner for Children and Young People, South Australia
Benefits
Pamela Melroy
Director, Space Technology and Policy, Nova Systems I Former NASA Astronaut and Space Mission Commander
Design thinking is extremely empowering when you realise that once you’ve learned a process for thinking things through, there’s no problem you can’t solve.
Mark Sparvell
Education Leader at Microsoft Worldwide
Design thinking guides learners to create compelling solutions for real or meaningful problems. I love the way Space to Dream seamlessly folds both empathy and experimentation into the learning. To solve a problem we simply must understand its impact and the potential impact of the solution. Learning is a profoundly social engagement and at its deepest level, brings purpose and passion together. We all need ‘space to dream’, to imagine possibilities, iterate, co-create and think-out-loud together. Technology can be levered to extend and amplify design thinking.
Mandi Dimitriadis
Director of Learning at Makers Empire
Design Thinking is one of the best tools we can equip young people with to make sure they are ready to solve problems and address challenges in their futures. Design thinking is a human-centered process which gives us the creative confidence to imagine a better world and to seize opportunities to use our skills to help others. I can’t wait to see the innovations and creative inventions young people come up with when given the ‘space to dream’.
Dr David Haley
Co-founder and CTO at Myriota
Space to Dream helps young people learn how to use design thinking to solve out of this world problems. It’s a great way for young people to start thinking about the opportunities and challenges space brings—which is important, as we depend on space technologies every day. Here in South Australia, we are at the epicentre of the rapidly expanding Australian space industry. By the time a Reception-aged child leaves school, jobs in the space industry are expected to have tripled!
Flavia Nardini
Co-Founder and CEO at Fleet Space Technologies
Design thinking is the process of where all great ideas have a beginning. It enables everyone of all ages to have a starting point and to grow the idea into a product – the idea becomes tangible and solid so that we can use it making our lives easier. The ‘Space to Dream’ initiative is super interesting as it gives children a platform to experiment and turn their dreams into realities.
The Commissioner's Digital Challenge is
proudly supported by
Acknowledgement of Country
We respectfully acknowledge and celebrate the Traditional Owners of the lands throughout South Australia and we pay our respects to their Elders – and to past, present and future generations of their children and young people.
