Minnetonka Community Education

Grades 3-8 Congratulations to our 2020/2021 Global Finals teams! Check out this video to find out more! Teams of 5-7 members work together and unleash their imaginations to tackle one of five crazy challenges. Teams creatively present their solutions in a performance at a regional tournament. Destination Imagination (DI) is the world's largest creative problem-solving competition for youth, with thousands of participants across the U.S. and around the world. DI teams typically meet once each week from November through mid-March. Each team is managed by a parent volunteer and sets their own meeting schedule. Minnetonka DI teams consistently take top honors at every level! Participants learn to think on their feet, develop collaboration and leadership skills and have fun! MORE ABOUT DI: Destination Imagination is a project-based program that builds participants’ creativity, problem solving and teamwork in enjoyable and meaningful ways. The goals of Destination Imagination are for participants to: Foster creative and critical thinking. Learn and apply creative problem solving. Develop teamwork, collaboration and leadership skills. Nurture research and inquiry skills. Enhance and apply written and verbal communication and presentation skills. Encourage competence in, enthusiasm for, and commitment to real-life problem solving. ABOUT OUR DI TEAMS: Minnetonka DI Teams... Consist of 5-7 members, often from the same school. Typically meet once each week from November to mid-March. Work together and unleash their imaginations to tackle one of five crazy challenges. Present their solutions in a short performance at regional, state and global tournaments. State tournament typically occurs around Spring Break, with Global Finals in May. Develop collaboration and leadership skills, think on their feet and have fun! ****Meeting dates and times will be set according to the Team Managers’ and participants’ schedules once teams are formed. TEAM MANAGERS: Each team needs an adult Team Manager to facilitate team meetings, tournament logistics and team safety. A good DI Team Manager must: Have a good sense of humor Appreciate creativity and innovation Enjoy working with children and young adults Be interested in helping young people learn creativity, teamwork and problem solving Have a positive and friendly attitude Training, resources and support for Team Managers will be provided. If you are interested in becoming a team manager, please indicate this when you are registering. Find out more about being a team manager here: Team Manager IMPORTANT DATES: Team Challenges Released: See link here DI Teams Created: Late October/Early November All Metro Team Manager Workshop (District 287): TBD (will be posted here) West/ Southwest Metro Tournament: Due to the continued presence of COVID and the Delta variant, MN DI will not be offering in-person regional tournaments. Virtual Saturday Regional Check Ins may be scheduled; dates for those potential events will be posted here. State (Affiliate) Tournament: Saturday, April 2, 2022 (Currently planned to be in person at Jackson Middle School in Champlin. MN DI is working on ways for everyone to participate, even virtually.) Global Finals: May 21-24, 2022 (for those that advance)

Learn about aviation principles, power, speed gears and elastic energy. You'll independently build working motorized models of a road sweeper, motorcycle, SUV Jeep, rescue helicopter and more! This internationally acclaimed STEM learning program is taught in 40+ countries by e2 Young Engineers, a Europe based company and accredited by Harvard and European Union. This is a problem based, spiral learning program where your child learns about new STEM concepts in every class and applies those concepts by building operational models using patented Lego blocks. This approach makes learning fun and easy to retain for the child. LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site or program.

Build a computer bot to play head-to-head against other coders! Whether this is your first Code Championship event, or if you've been competing for years, this is the perfect way to explore the competitive coding world of Code Championship. No previous coding experience necessary. The Fall 2021 Code Championship Series is a series of six tournaments in six weeks (it's ok to miss one or two). These tournaments will be hosted online using Google Meet and the Code Championship website. If you have a modern browser like Chrome or Firefox, no additional download is required. Please come knowing how to navigate the internet (basic typing and mouse control). The link to the Google Meet event will be emailed two days before the tournament. Technology Requirements: This event will be hosted online using Google Meet and the Code Championship website. If you have a modern browser like Chrome or Firefox, no additional download is required. Please come knowing how to navigate the internet (basic typing and mouse control). The link to the Google Meet event will be emailed two days before the tournament.

Calling new and returning students! Each week, learn from new, hands-on lessons from various engineering disciplines. Each lesson focuses on developing 21st Century skills such as problem solving, critical thinking and peer collaboration. These life skills provide students with the confidence to approach challenges in their lives and realize that they can succeed in almost anything! Engineering for Kids has a library of 300+ individual lessons which continues to grow so we never have to repeat lessons. Fall 1 Lessons (classes beginning in September): Order may vary. Mechanical Engineering Catapult Students will explore mechanical engineering to build a simple catapult. Aerospace Engineering Rocket Students will explore aerospace engineering, learn about principles of flight and create and launch their own simple rocket. Coding Unplugged Earthworm Students will be introduced to coding with simple sequencing while engaging their minds in creativity, problem solving and math. Acoustic Engineering Flute Students will explore sound and make music with their own pan flute. Mechanical Engineering Star Spinner Students will learn about potential and kinetic energy as they make a fun star spinner toy. Civil Engineering Zoo Students will learn about civil engineering as they are challenged to build their own zoo. Fall 2 Lessons (classes beginning in November): Order may vary. Environmental Engineering Windmill Students will learn about harnessing the power of wind and create their own windmill. Industrial Engineering Levers Students will be introduced to the lever and its properties and build their own gripper tool using a lever. Electrical Engineering Dancing Dolls Students will be introduced to static electricity and will make their own dancing paper dolls. Mechanical Engineering Invent Your Own Toy Students will be challenged to design a new toy to play with given specific materials. Aerospace Engineering Parachutes Students will explore aerospace engineering and design a parachute for Santa. Mechanical Engineering Robot Hand Students will use the engineering design process to build their own robot hand.

A program perfect for future Scientists and Engineers! We'll challenge your creative problem-solving skills and spark your love of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. Discover an amazing array of activities and challenges from various STEM disciplines (Aeronautics, Space, Marine, Eco and more) that help develop critical thinking and team working skills. A fun program for young STEAMers! No projects are repeated across sessions.

Learn about Belt Transmission, Newton’s Laws, the Law of Conservation of Energy and Angular momentum. Independently build working motorized models of a laundry machine, stand mixer, drill machine, electric beater and more! This internationally acclaimed STEM learning program is taught in 40+ countries by e2 Young Engineers, a Europe based company and accredited by Harvard and European Union. This is a problem based, spiral learning program where your child learns about new STEM concepts in every class and applies those concepts by building operational models using patented Lego blocks. This approach makes learning fun and easy to retain for the child.

Collaborate with fellow students to construct a city! Take home your completed world files at the end of class. Beginners and experienced Minecrafters alike will love this action-packed class. Technical Requirements Computer: PC (Windows XP or later) or Mac (OSX) with at least a 2GHz processor and 4GB of RAM Internet: Broadband internet with at least 1.5Mbps download and 600Kbps upload speeds. Webcam Microphone and Speakers Google Meet Minecraft Java Edition Information for logging into the session, will be sent the week prior to class.

Coding is an invaluable skill in today’s world, it can open amazing opportunities and set you up for success. In this online Coding Club, learn coding skills in a fun and easy way. Sessions advance from basic block programming all the way up to python. Level 2: Students will continue building on their knowledge of block programming as they learn about random motion, basic loops and conditionals all while creating their own game. Basic Typing Skills Access to a Windows PC Access to High Speed Internet Access ZOOM will be used for on-line class

Coding is an invaluable skill in today’s world, it can open amazing opportunities and set you up for success. In this online Coding Club, learn coding skills in a fun and easy way. Sessions advance from basic block programming all the way up to python. Level 1: In this introductory class, students will learn how to handle user input, deal with motion and direction and use their own creativity to design characters. Basic Typing Skills Access to a Windows PC Access to High Speed Internet Access ZOOM will be used for on-line class

Mind-blowing myths or scientific facts? Join us as we confirm or bust strange myths and wacky urban legends. We’ll ask the crazy questions, develop hypotheses, then we may smash it, crash it or launch it to determine if the myth is confirmed, plausible or busted. Note: M&M's (non-peanut variety) and Pop Rocks may be consumed.

Smash into virtual walls to tear down castles or navigate labyrinths maze. Code virtual robots, using Vexcode VR and create robotic mayhem in a virtual playground while igniting a lifelong love of problem-solving. VEXcode VR lets you code a virtual robot using a block-based coding environment powered by Scratch Blocks. VEXcode VR is based on VEXcode. Technical Requirements Computer: PC (Windows XP or later) or Mac (OSX) with at least a 2GHz processor and 4GB of RAM Internet: Broadband internet with at least 1.5Mbps download and 600Kbps upload speeds. Webcam Microphone and Speakers Google Meet Information for logging into the session, will be sent the week prior to class.