Exploring science through sports

Challenge

All over the country, teachers, academics and politicians are talking about the need for more scientists, engineers and mathematicians. "Leadership tomorrow depends on how we educate our students today - especially in science, technology, engineering, and math", President Obama recently said at a STEM education event. My SVA classmate, John Finley and I were curious to explore how design could help create an experience that could trigger excitement and interest in science for elementary school children.

Using sports as a lens to teach basic science concepts, we developed Field Day to engage students in learning through two methods. The first, an in-school experience that provides hands-on learning of key science themes, and the second, an iPad app with multiple modes of learning and interaction all focused on sports and science.

Inspired by Stoked Mentoring

Stoked is a non-profit organization based in New York and LA that teaches life skills - perseverance, leadership and collaboration - and more through skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding. The program takes students out of the comfort of their city environments and introduces them to new experiences that teach more than just how to nail ollies, but how to excel and reach their true potential in all areas of life. We used the success of Stoked as a model for how we could build a product and service around science education. More on Stoked Mentoring.

Service: Field Day In-school Experience
The Field Day in-school experience for children combines learning with physical activity and turns science concepts into tangible and relatable interactions through sports. In the vain of "Nickelodeon takes over your school", the in-school experience gives students the freedom to take an active role in their learning.

Watch the User Journey

Field Day Service Concept from Carmen Dukes on Vimeo.

Product: Field Day Experiential E-Book
The Field Day app is an interactive e-book that introduces students to science themes through sports in several different ways - reading, hands on experiments, video, and quizzes. The variety of interactions encouraged young children to experience and learn the content in multiple ways. One common mantra of many educators is to "engage the senses". This was a design principle that we followed throughout the process.

Watch the Experience Prototype

Field Day iPad app from John Finley on Vimeo.

Created in Spring 2010 for Entrepreneurial Design. Taught by Bek Hodgson