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Mission: Possible - Week 3

Mission of the Week: How can I help my community?

 

Segment 1:

  • Exploration - How can I be creative and think possible?

  • Mini Mission - Come up with a creative solution

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  • For ages 4-6 - Parents could do this activity with their children, modeling possibilities and encouraging as much creativity as possible. 

  • For ages 7-9 - Start with the activity in the guide and then come up with your own problem and solution. Think details - how exactly would the problem be solved?

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Segment 2:

  • Exploration - What is community?

  • Mini Mission - Identify a community of which you are a part to solve a problem

  • For ages 4-6 - Parents could help kids consider their communities by asking them questions about their activities and likes. 

  • For ages 7-9 - Consider what role each of these communities play for you. Are there communities that are more valuable to you? In what ways? What do you think defines a community?

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Segment 3:

  • Exploration - How do we start solving a problem?

  • Mini Mission - Identify a problem to solve

  • For ages 4-6 - Parents could help walk kids through the process of identifying a problem. What makes this a problem?

  • For ages 7-9 - Consider lots of different problems and interview people from the selected community to help you choose. What makes what you chose an important problem to solve? How will solving it make things better for the community?

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Segment 4:

  • Exploration - How can I make my solution the best by starting with a prototype?

  • Mini Mission - Create a prototype

  • For ages 4-6 - Parents should let kids lead as much as possible, thinking about what might work.

  • For ages 7-9 - Try creating several different versions of the prototype. Maybe start by drawing and then by modeling and then testing and modeling with different materials. What changes are you making and why?

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Segment 5:

  • Exploration - How can I use iteration to make my solution even better?

  • Mini Mission - Gather feedback and iterate to improve your solution

  • For ages 4-6 - Parents could help kids solicit feedback and consider how to use it to improve the solution. 

  • For ages 7-9 - Try getting a variety of feedback. What do you do if the feedback conflicts with someone else’s feedback or what you think is best?

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Optional Family Mission: 

  • Exploration - How can we use the materials we have at home to solve problems?

  • Mini-Mission - Take upcycling to the next level

    • In Week 2, one of the problems we explored was the idea of upcycling and keeping things from going to the trash by finding them new purpose.

    • Using the concept of upcycling, as a family, work to build a version of a solution to the problem identified. 

      • For example, while the prototype might have been made out of a cardboard box, is there a plastic bin or some scrap wood around that might be used?

      • Consider -- How can using different materials change the solution? Which materials would be ideal? What about of the materials you have available? 

    • Make sure everyone has a voice, and every plays a role...and make sure to have fun!

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Conclusion of Week 3

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Note: These are a sampling of the standards integrated into this unit. Recognizing that Mission: Possible participants span many grades and readiness-levels, this is a generic structure meant to include everyone. Additional activities integrating grade-level standards in specific disciplines (such as math, literacy, science, and social studies) tied to this material are available. This is especially true for math where levels vary drastically from student to student. Please email us, and we’d be happy to provide those resources.

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