#NAEMI T Hacks the Global Games
The Americas Regional Event, The
Global Games, sees over 1000
students from the different schools
come together to compete in an
Olympic Style sporting festival ? a
unique opportunity to engage
students within a different forum.
A conversation between colleagues
during
the
Summer
MIT
Professional Development Week sparked the idea of
?hacking? the Global Games. It grew from the
collective belief that STEAM education was
intrinsically embedded within Sports, and that this
event would be the perfect host. The theme behind
the challenges for 2018-2019, Super Heroes,
particularly the challenge ?Epic Identity?, gave the
perfect context for the STEAM takeover area within
the Olympic Village.
The Epic Identity challenge focuses on the idea of
both analyzing and enhancing human performance
through wearable technology, inspired by the
research of MIT?s Professor Leia Stirling and her
team. The Global Games therefore provided the
unique chance for Sport and STEAM to be fused
together by giving students the resources to analyze
their own physical performance and, as a result,
consider how advancements in technology could
change sport in the future ? it allowed a true
cross-curricular, potentially even an anti-curricular,
learning opportunity for those who attended.
The depicted sidekick to Professor Leia Stirling
super hero character in the Epic Identity
challenge is MIT?s Richard Fineman, who
attended the event to support with the running
of the STEAM tent. His expertise in analyzing
human performance via wearable sensors
provided the students the exciting chance to
observe and interpret live data relating to them
completing a sport of their choice. The sensors
used were ?PocketLab One? which provided
Jennifer Taylor
Physics & Chemistry Specialist
Head of Science
British School of Chicago, South Loop
live data relating to a wide variety of variables
including velocity, acceleration and pressure.
Having an engaging, passionate and relatable
MIT PhD student provided another dimension
to the activities; it resulted in conversations
and mini investigations being developed which
went far beyond the realms of the Global
Games. Other activities incorporated into the
STEAM area used other technologies such as
MaKey MaKey, Scratch and Robotics ? all
planned by teachers from a collective of
schools within the Region who had attended
the Summer MIT PD training.
The overall challenge of running the STEAM
tent was that this was not a STEAM event, and
therefore there was not a captive audience of
STEAM-minded students. Our aim was always
to exploit this opportunity of having potentially
not necessarily ?STEAM? motivated students
together and exposing them to the MIT
Collaboration and how the philosophy behind
it filters into all aspects of life. Over the course
of 2.5 days over 150 students independently
opted to visit the STEAM tent and actively
participated in the range of activities/projects
available to them. Each day the activities
evolved and changed in response to the desires
the students expressed. This resulted in a
student-led
investigation
area,
which
harnessed and forged the expertise of Richard
Fineman, the Epic Identity Challenge and
overall the curiosity of the students themselves.
The real success and excitement associated
with the Hack was observing students engage
with Richard, and seeing an interest ignite
within them that drove them to investigate
their own related questions using the resources
available to them.