Table of Contents
The Sea, Air and Land Challenge is a STEM initiative to provide high school aged students the opportunity to tackle a difficult engineering task while still in high school. Know that some regions also offer the program for middle/junior high school students and college freshmen. During the program, students are introduced to engineering and provided insight into some of the tremendous technical careers available to them in or supporting our Department of Defense (DoD). Another benefit of the program is that it helps administrators and educators implement a successful STEM program into their schools even with time, budget or resource constraints. Note that a day-by-day no-cost curriculum was developed and is available for use in the classroom.
Teams of 3-10 students have twelve to sixteen weeks (one semester) to design and build unmanned vehicles and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) payloads to compete in predefined challenges. Each team includes an educator or advisor who organizes and monitors the group, plus a volunteer university or industry engineering mentor who helps guide them through the design and building process. Teams may choose between building a submersible for the Sea Challenge, a drone for the Air Challenge or a rover for the Land Challenge. The challenges are designed by Penn State Applied Research Laboratory engineers and some of the country’s finest Navy SEALs and Green Berets.
Student teams may be formed from in-school classes, after-school groups, cyber and home schooled students as well as youth organizations such as scouts, clubs and 4-H. Educators and advisors are reminded that the Sea, Air and Land Challenge is not a competition based on winning as all of the participants are winners. Rather than the finish line, this program is about the journey! Teams are judged based upon the team’s innovation and use of the engineering design process in building a vehicle and its ability to maneuver through a designated unknown course. In addition to the information written below, a video for educators and teams on getting started was developed. Note that the “Challenge missions” or story lines have been updated since the creation of this video, but the details on how to proceed remain the same.
Suggested Timeline for a Spring Challenge
-
-
- Read the Survival Guide for Educators – September
- School or club registration – September through January
- Build teams/team fundraising – October through January
- Team registration – November through February
- Name the team’s engineering mentor – November through January
- Engineering mentor/volunteer background applications & clearances due – December through January
- Teams begin background research and design – January
- Preliminary Design Review (PDR) due – February (date provided by regional coordinator)
- Purchase equipment & supplies (after PDR is reviewed) – February through March
- Critical Design Review (CDR) optional – late February
- Fabrication and testing phase – March through April
- Pilot Qualification video due for Air Challenge teams – approx. 2 weeks prior to Challenge Day
- Challenge Day – late April to mid-May
-
Look for a region near you by clicking on FIND A CHALLENGE on the top white bar of the Sea Air and Land Challenge homepage, OR consider starting your own region.
Read the Survival Guide for Educators–> this can be found under SUPPORT DOCS section. Click on the link on the home page’s top white menu bar. Ask your regional coordinator for the password or contact Penn State Applied Research Laboratory’s Sea Air Land Group.
Consider the following checklist:
Educator Checklist (Fall Semester)
-
-
-
- Talk to your school board, Superintendent and/or Principal. Register your school or organization.
- Recruit students, form the teams (see below for team structure), and register online – each team member must register online
- Recruit engineering mentor (see resources, can be a parent)
- Sponsorship – while there is no registration fee, teams are responsible for their supplies and may fundraise. A maximum of $600 can be spent for each team’s supplies.
- Reserve a classroom or other space to design and build
- Block off time from January through April (suggest a minimum of 2 hours per week for 12 weeks)
-
-
Educator Checklist (Spring Semester)
-
-
-
- Schedule team meetings and establish a team structure that encourages full participation
- Monitor the teams in setting and completing objectives (see below section on “setting goals”)
- Monitor the teams with fundraising efforts
- Monitor the teams with budget preparation and following of the same
- Monitor the teams with ordering and obtaining parts
- Ensure participation safety at all times
- Allow time for team testing of robotic systems prior to Challenge Day
- Arrange transportation for teams to attend Challenge Day in April or May
- Attend Challenge Day with team(s)
-
-
Sea, Air and Land Team Structure
Teams should be made up of 3 to 10 students per team and are required to assign at least one educator or adult advisor. It is suggested that each team also names a industry or university engineering mentor. Regional Coordinators can assist with linking your team with this technical volunteer. Schools can enter as many teams as they wish. Home and cyber schooled teams and organizations such as clubs, scouts and 4-H, are also welcome.
Clearances and Background Checks
All staff, mentors, educators, and volunteers working and/or participating in Sea, Air and Land Challenge must complete required background checks, clearances, and child abuse training as required in your state and by your school district.
The Sea, Air and Land Challenge staff training and expectations have always included an ‘above-and-beyond’ effort to educate mentors and educators about daily processes, safety protocols, and methods to establish successful learning environments. At the Sea, Air and Land Challenge, we are always striving to uphold the highest level of excellence when it comes to providing a safe, creative, and immersive learning experience for all participants.
There is no cost for registration, but each team is responsible for securing funding for their robotic system – a maximum of $600 per team for the robotic system. This does not include general tools or transportation. Showing how to cost effectively build the robotic system goes towards scoring…teams should spend wisely. Each team is required to submit a detailed budget in the spring. Funding may come from a variety of sources including your school or club, local business, grants, etc. Below is some additional information on these sources:
-
- See Support Docs on this website for a template for students to send to local businesses/companies for sponsorship. There is also a thank-you template.
- Grant information – (click here for a listing of many available grants)
- Team Support at Headquarters – If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Sea Air Land Group at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory or call (724) 295-7000 ext. 7135. The Sea Air Land Group often has funding available for new teams and regional coordinators from Penn State ARL or from national sponsors.
Resources
The Regional Coordinators are familiar with the program and process. They can help you form a plan for getting your team funded, put you in touch with other teams in the area or suggest local engineering mentors. Visit the FIND A CHALLENGE link to connect with a Regional Coordinator in your area.
Educator or Advisor’s Role
It is important Educators, Advisors and Engineering Mentors understand that they are not to provide answers to the students, but are there to guide them through the process of designing, building and testing, and assist should a team stray too far off course. Educators, Advisors and Mentors are not to give answers or final solutions, rather offer suggestions or direction. For more information about mentoring or teaching a team, please refer to the Survival Guide for Educators and Engineering Mentor Information under SUPPORT DOCS on the website.
Setting Goals
One of the first details to discuss with the team is goals. Talk about finite goals that the team wishes to achieve. Try to make these goals realistic. Set deadlines and document all of the goals to track the progress in achieving them. Documenting goals, problems and their solutions will make the team more time efficient and reduce frustration.
Organization
The next detail is who is going to do what. The team’s structure will show who leads which portion of the process, noting that many students may work on a given portion. One structure, based on functionality, is shown:
• Team Leader
• Finance / Fundraising Chairperson
• Purchasing Chairperson
• Mechanics
• Electrical/Electronics
• Drive train/hardware
• Coding
Hardware/Parts Information
Supplies for students to consider with budget of $600. Funding is to be used for parts and materials for this challenge. This is a sample list of some possible expenditure.
• Cameras
• Sensors
• Cabling
• Connectors
• Vehicle structure (premade, kit or built from supplies)
• Locomotion (premade, kit or built from supplies) including tires/treads, propeller blades, motors, etc.
• Mounting hardware (nuts, bolts, screws, mounting plates, cable ties, etc.)
• Transmitter/receiver (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.)
• Batteries
• Chargers
• Miscellaneous circuit items (bread board, capacitors, resistors, switches, etc.)
Optional Curriculum
To assist teachers in the classroom, a new one semester Introduction to Engineering curriculum was developed in conjunction with ITEEA. While it follows the engineering design process used in the SeAL Challenge, this detailed curriculum can be used with the Challenge or stand alone. Check out the Curriculum under Links on the home page.
Sea, Air and Land Challenge would like to thank all of the volunteers and supporters for their kindness and generosity in making every challenge a huge success!