The Mission

Day of Design Missions encourage students to

create like an innovator by employing critical thinking, teamwork, and an entrepreneurial mindset while innovating a solution to the problem. In the Virtual

Voyagers Design Mission, students will wrestle

with a challenge that impacts their daily lives and their communities: cyber security. 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 can tackle this challenge using a wide-range of materials and technology from everyday materials available in the classroom to design software to 3D printed components. The focus is on the ideas and approaches as opposed to the end products

themselves.

why Day of Design?

We know this school year is exceptionally challenging for

both parents and teachers struggling to find a new norm for K-12 learning in the COVID-19 climate. It remains unclear what school will look like, and how teachers and

parents alike will contribute to student instruction. National Day of Design offers real-world learning experiences to all learners and brings essential STEM skills to life.

This year’s National Day of Design Mission, sponsored by Walmart, is titled Virtual Voyagers: Boldly Navigating

Security and Virtual Collaboration. Participating

students will design an age-appropriate solution for

protecting personal information in collaborative working spaces. 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. This free, standards-aligned curriculum and leader’s guide can be downloaded at www.nationaldayofdesign.com, and in just a single-

class period, students can develop real-world, relevant, job-readiness skills, and connect with a nationwide

community of problem-solvers and trailblazers.

We hope you will join the National Day of Design community in the month of October - Cyber Security

Month - and share your videos, quotes, and Mission-related stories using the hash-tags #DayofDesign2020

and #WalmartVirtualVoyagers and tagging @Walmart

and @STEMconnector.

2020 National

Day of design

Virtual voyagers

Presents

Through this mission, students will:

¤ Connect their learning in the classroom to the real world.

¤ Gain knowledge and understanding of the current ways of

communicating and protecting information online.

¤ Consider the effect of online systems and processes on others.

¤ Grow STEM knowledge and practice STEM skills, drawing

from engineering, computing, and other fields.

¤ Build skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, entrepreneurship, and other 21st century skills that will prepare them for future careers.

This Mission aligns to Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and International Society for

Technology in Education Standards so it can easily be implemented into the classroom. Materials are catered to different grade levels and allows for various levels of participation from a simple 45 minute lesson to a more extensive lesson plan that can span across the semester.

For more information contact: DayofDesign@STEMconnector.com