Education students at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC) participated in a collaborative project with Discovery School of Tulsa (Tulsa, OK), Depew Elementary School (Depew, OK) and Forrest Hill, (Auckland, NZ).  The students worked together through the internet to design, build and compete Edible Lunar Vehicles. Students studied the moon and stars for two months in preparation of this project. To learn how engineers work, students from each location engaged in a team building process prior to the vehicle construction stage. Learners from the three locations raced their team vehicles on April 14 in a final challenge for this multiage and multinational learning event.

The IUPUC students were led by Dr. Kate Baird, a clinical assistant professor of science education. She is a student of science learning, and teaching is her passion. Working with students as they explore learning and learners is her reason for working at the university level. A central component of her teaching is to give learners the opportunity to use inquiry and self-reflection to make meaning of science education. Recently, she has focused on creating opportunities for inquiry across the curriculum and for building connections among state, national, and international learners. The Edible Lunar Vehicles collaboration is an example of creating this type of opportunity for students.

Local Tulsa stations, KOTV 6, KTUL 8, KJRH 2 news, as well as 100.9 KXOJ radio, covered the event. To see the work created by the students, you can view two news stories about the event.