Design That! Challenge
To commemorate the life of Grand Rapids’ own Roger B. Chaffee, Grand Valley State University and Grand Rapids Public Museum co-host the annual Roger That! symposium on a weekend every February where we plan both in-person and virtual activities.
Every year we invite interested 4th – 8th grade students in the greater Grand Rapids area to participate in Design That! - a design challenge that focuses all aspects related to space exploration.
Student teams can create physical models, write stories, design websites, produce short (3-5 min) videos, or make posters describing their projects.
All projects are displayed at GVSU on Friday evening, and the top 10 are exhibited at GRPM all day on Saturday. Prizes are given to two teams - a popular choice award and a juried award.
Participation Guidelines
- Explain concepts related to space or space exploration.
- Write a story or perform a play about space travel or life in space.
- Design clothing, buildings, or devices for space travel or life in space
- Build physical devices (robots or models) to be used in space exploration.
- Create a webpage or computer model relevant to space or space exploration.
- Discuss historical events in space exploration, such as moon landings and other missions.
For Design That!, students are encouraged to design and build physical or virtual objects or use non-fictional and fictional narrative styles to present challenges related to space exploration. This is an exciting competition that gives individuals or teams of 2-6 students a chance to win prizes and the opportunity to present their work as part of a space-focused conference at Grand Valley State University.