Unique collaboration with MIT: “Into the Void” STEAM Challenge

Unique collaboration with MIT: “Into the Void” STEAM Challenge At BIS Hanoi, we are very lucky to have a unique collaboration with MIT, the world's leading technology University. This term has seen MIT launched their “Into the Void” challenges, focused around Space exploration. These challenges are a great way to get our students interested in the world of STEAM and see how what they design and make today can influence the world of tomorrow.

At BIS Hanoi, we are very lucky to have a unique collaboration with MIT, the world's leading technology University. This term has seen MIT launched their “Into the Void” challenges, focused around Space exploration. These challenges are a great way to get our students interested in the world of STEAM and see how what they design and make today can influence the world of tomorrow.

This term has seen MIT launched their “Into the Void” challenges, focused around Space exploration. MIT is in a unique position as they work directly with NASA and the International Space Station. They have designed 3 challenges in this “Into the Void” series, the first of which is “Living in Space” set by Ariel Ekblaw, the founder and lead of the MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative. Ariel and her team at MIT work on designing and making equipment and artifacts that are used on the International Space Station (ISS).

Our students have been asked to come up with ideas to improve the quality of life and the human experience of astronauts living and working on ISS related to either: Sports and Exercise, Art, or Food. Working in teams they have spent the last week researching and finding out about how people on ISS live, work and relax. They have also had the chance to ask Ariel and her team questions directly through our Global Campus website, which also has a plethora of resources and other challenges set by MIT.

After we come back from the October break our students in their teams will have to put their creative juices to the test and come up with some crazy, unique and fun ideas. Using our fantastic makerspace facilities they will get to build and test their ideas using a wide variety of equipment, resources and materials. The deadline for submission to MIT is the 16th of November where they will present their final idea with a recorded video. Perhaps Ariel and her team might like our students' ideas so much they will try and make them into reality and even use them on a potential mission to Mars.

Either way, these challenges are a great way to get our students interested in the world of STEAM and see how what they design and make today can influence the world of tomorrow.

David Burke

Design Teacher