Three teams of sixth-graders from Muirlands Middle School have their fingers crossed that the board games they created for this year’s fifth annual National Toy Challenge will have what it takes.
A contest developed by Sally Ride Science ” a company founded in 2001 by the first American woman in space, Sally Ride ” the Toy Challenge is designed to help middle-school students develop an early interest in science. It is open to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders across the country.
Muirlands’ teams have been developing their ideas since October and will compete among 150 finalist teams this Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, according to Julie Latta, Muirlands science teacher and contest coach.
“This project gives the students a true sense of what it’s like to engineer something,” Latta said. “I think it’s a great project for teaching truly what engineers go through and for students to learn what it’s like to work in a group and all the pitfalls and joys that come with that.”
First-place prize for this year’s contest is an invitation to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., which includes simulated space shuttle missions, training simulators and space exploration talks.
Muirlands, which submitted preliminary written toy propositions by six teams, is one of only a few schools to have three teams selected to move on the final competition, Latta said.
Last year, Muirlands also had three teams in the finals, with one placing second overall. That team of sixth-graders also was chosen as one of 15 teams in the country to be filmed for part of a documentary on the Toy Challenge. The film is expected to run in theaters soon, Latta said.
The contest has three project categories: “get out and play,” “toys for the family” and “toys that teach.” Muirlands has entered three projects ” all of which are board games ” in the latter two divisions.
For “toys that teach,” one team designed a board game in which players answer factual questions about eight different countries. Correct answers earn supplies used to build four important infrastructures in their designated countries.
In another game, players move up a career pyramid by training and completing business goals. The third board game works as a puzzle, making opposing teams jump through a series of physically and mentally challenging hoops.
Latta, who has been participating in the contest for the last three years, worked this year with students and volunteer coaches Teresa Doyle and Kara Crawford and La Jolla High School student Kristina Graf to think up the idea of board games.
Learning and family games had not been popular entries at past Toy Challenges, and Latta said she thinks the teams may have a better chance competing in those categories.
But whatever the outcome, Latta and the students are pleased to have made it to the finals and are excited to present all three projects to a panel of judges, the science teacher said.
“We’re just really excited to be in this final preparation stage,” Latta said. “I think these students really rose to the occasion.”
The National Toy Challenge will be held all day Saturday and Sunday at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, 2001 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park. The event is open to the public.
For more information about the National Toy Challenge, visit www.toychallenge.com.