The Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) is an annual competition that provides high school students, grades 9-12, the opportunity to work on real world engineering challenges in a team environment. Each year, student teams will be asked to address a challenge that confronts our nation’s leading industries. Students will utilize professional engineering software to develop their solutions and will also generate presentations that convincingly demonstrate the value of their solutions. The RWDC provides students with opportunities to apply the lessons of the classroom to the technical problems that are being faced in the workplace.
Steps for Competing in the Challenge
1. Register a team
To register your teams fill out the form https://forms.gle/zjFyqVfaeqMgX2zq9. Teams are made up of 3-7 students in grades 9-12. Each team needs a coach who is a teacher or other adult to help organize the team and act as the point of contact for the team. You may change or add team members through the registration period as needed. Coaches may have as many teams as they want but students may only be on one team.
2. Go to the “Getting Started” page and find your resources
The Getting Started page has a lot of important resources for teams. Go to the Getting Started page and find the following important Challenge materials:
Challenge Statement – provides an overview of the engineering problem you will be solving this in this years challenge.
Detailed Background (coming soon)- provides background information on the Challenge and adds detail to the Challenge Statement.
Engineering Design Notebook Template (Available upon registration) – is a Word document provides the specific format detailing what section are needed in the Engineering Design Notebook so it is aligned with the Scoring Rubric.
Scoring Rubric (Available Upon Registration) – Ultimately teams are graded on the submission of an Engineering Design Notebook that details the teams’ design. The Scoring Rubric explains what is expected in the Engineering Design Notebook and provides details on how the Engineering Design Notebook is scored.
Student/Coaches/Teachers Guide- is a reference for Teams. It provides greater detail on what needs to be done through out the competition.
3. Work on the Challenge
Ultimately you will need to prepare and submit an Engineering Design Notebook. Teams of judges will evaluate your work based on what you submit in your Engineering Design Notebook. Your team should look through the Scoring Rubric and begin to do research to design a system to address the questions posed in the Scoring Rubric. The headings in the Scoring Rubric should be used as the headings in your Engineering Design Notebook. Fill in sections of the Engineering Design Notebook as you complete the work in each section. On the getting started page you will also find software, webinars, and a survey.
4. Submit your solution by the deadline.
You should turn your Engineering Design Notebook to your State Coordinator and to Jeff Coppola (jeffcoppola@gmail.com). The deadline is posted here: http://realworlddesignchallenge.org/dates.php
We are providing $50,000 scholarships from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to each student on the International Champion team.
