2020 Walmart’s National Day of Design Virtual Voyagers:
Boldly Navigating Security and Virtual Collaboration
2020 National Day of Design Virtual Voyagers
Walmart Gift Card Winners!
This year’s National Day of Design Virtual Voyagers mission challenged students from across the country to put their creativity and problem solving abilities to the test by tackling a real-world challenge with widespread importance – cybersecurity. Students had to balance security with functionality as they worked to design a new invention that would help people collaborate virtually while also protecting privacy and keeping personal information secure.
The quality of the prototype ideas was exceptional. We were amazed at how effectively students were able to utilize their interdisciplinary skills from science to English to technology to create real-world solutions to the problem. Working together, students created solutions that included eye scanning, keypads, and even two-factor authentication!
The lucky winners of the 2020 National Day of Design Virtual Voyagers Walmart gift card drawing are:
@AllenWang91
@PerryIC
@StemOasis (Mrs. Stafford)
@OasisMiddleOMS
@OasisESpanthers
@St. Anne Athletics
@CME_Explorers
@FrankKimitc
The gift cards, donated by Walmart, are intended for recipients to use in their classrooms and/or out-of-school learning settings to inspire the next generation of STEM innovators.
Congratulations to all of our winners! Please send an email to dayofdesign@stemconnector.com to claim your gift card.
Thank you to Walmart for sponsoring the 2020 National Day of Design Virtual Voyagers mission and for donating gift cards to participants.
TRY IT AT HOME OR IN THE CLASSROOM!
2020 Walmart’s National Day of Design Mission, Virtual Voyagers: Boldly Navigating Security and Virtual Collaboration encourages students to employ critical thinking skills, teamwork, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) principles, and an entrepreneurial mindset to create a solution to a real-world, relevant challenge.
We hope you will join 2020 Walmart’s National Day of Design during the month of October – Cybersecurity Month – and while teachers can choose to lead the Mission whenever it most aligns with their lesson plans, we ask that you share photos, quotes, stories and videos on social media throughout the month of October using #WalmartVirtualVoyagers and #DayofDesign2020 and tagging @Walmart and @STEMconnector to connect to the larger national movement and increase engagement.
MISSION BACKGROUND
In the Virtual Voyagers Mission, students will wrestle with a challenge that impacts their daily lives and their communities: cybersecurity. They will use interdisciplinary skills in various sciences, English, technology and the fundamentals of engineering to design a new invention that will help people collaborate virtually while keeping their personal information secure and protecting privacy. As this challenge is so relevant to our lives right now, it acts as a wonderful reminder to the students that each of us has a role to play in solving complex global challenges at the local level.
Students will take an interdisciplinary approach, tapping into computer science, English, technology, and engineering fundamentals to design a prototype that will personalize password protection and virtual collaboration.Teams can tackle this challenge using a wide range of materials, from everyday resources available in the classroom to design software to 3D printed components.
The Day of Design project-based learning opportunity reminds students that each of us has a role to play in solving complex global challenges at the local level – and that STEM thinking applies both in and outside the classroom.
Click here for a printable one-pager on the 2020 Walmart’s National Day of Design Mission. Please feel free to share with your colleagues and build momentum around this STEM project-based learning opportunity!
Check out the video below to learn more about Walmart Cybersecurity careers!
LAUNCH YOUR DAY OF DESIGN MISSION
The Mission, which has been re-imagined for use at school and/or at home, is conveniently broken into sections with implementation guidelines for individual, group, in-person and virtual use. Each Student Edition is ready for use by individual students or student teams as they navigate the project. The accompanying Instructors’ Guide is accessible to parents, after-school program providers, mentors, etc., includes detailed instructions on how to implement the activity at home or in the classroom along with optional follow-on activities to extend the learning experience. While the Educators’ Guide offers suggestions for how to relate the Day of Design Mission to what is already being taught in the classroom, it can be a completely stand-alone activity.
Participation is open to any student in grades 1 through 12th, and any adult supporting STEM learning for that student.
National Day of Design Mission activities are aligned to Common Core State Standards, International Society for Technology in Education Standards, and Next Generation Science Standards.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Privacy
- Research how the internet works – https://www.webfx.com/blog/internet/the-structure-of-the-internet-infographic/
- Leading organization on ed tech resources and research – https://privacy.commonsense.org/
- Digital native vs. digital immigrant – https://medium.com/digital-reflections/digital-natives-and-digital-immigrants-how-are-they-different-e849b0a8a1d3
Design Thinking
- Design thinking process (5 minutes) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0VX-aU_T8
- Design Strategy- customer focused (90 seconds) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQytKCT563I
Brainstorming
- Brainstorming techniques – https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/13-effective-brainstorming-techniques
CoSpaces Edu is a K-12 intuitive educational technology enabling students and teachers to easily build their own 3D creations, animate them with code and explore them in Virtual or Augmented Reality. Students can go in at all levels and create virtual reality, animation and characters.
NearPod allows K-12 teachers to create interactive lessons in minutes across a variety of subjects. Save prep time by easily importing existing lessons (pdfs, jpegs, ppts) and adding interactive features such as Virtual Field Trips, 3D Objects, Quizzes, Polls, Open Ended Questions + more!
Merge Cube enables active learning by enabling students to learn and create in entirely new ways while giving teachers simple AR/VR tools that increase student engagement, intellectual curiosity and classroom achievement.
Scratch allows students to code their own interactive stories, animations, and games. In the process, they learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for everyone in today’s society. Educators are integrating Scratch across many different subject areas and age groups.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (not included in activity files)
- Vetting process with certified products – https://ikeepsafe.org/
- Google Privacy and Terms (how they collect and use your data) – https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites-
- Google Analytics opt out add-on – https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
- Student Data Privacy Consortium – https://privacy.a4l.org/
- Full research analysis of quality/privacy of edtech tools – https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/2018-state-of-edtech-privacy-report
- Texas Association of School Boards resource page for data privacy – https://www.tasb.org/services/legal-services/tasb-school-law-esource/business/documents/technology_in_the_classroom.pdf
- Utah’s Ed Board with great, and entertaining, videos explaining some of the acronym puzzles we all encounter – https://schools.utah.gov/studentdataprivacy/videoresources–
Nonprofit organization with resources for understanding federal policies and protections: