$10,000 Community Design Challenge – Pretend City

Pretend City Children’s Museum is a non-profit interactive early learning hub that provides research-based open-ended play opportunities for young children’s healthy academic, social and emotional development. 

The UCI ANTrepreneur Center and UROP have partnered with Pretend City to create a Design Challenge for UCI students to develop compelling ways to engage adults in accessing and understanding more in-depth STEAM information at museum exhibits. The objective is to empower parents/adults with basic STEAM information around various activities in each space, so that adults can facilitate guided play and enrich learning.

We are looking for interdisciplinary team of UCI students to develop a working prototype to be tested in four Pretend City learning spaces. Teams will compete for $10,000 in prizes and have their ideas featured in the new Pretend City being built at the Great Park!

Watch the info session to learn more about this Design Challenge!

Pretend City Children’s Museum Competition:

• THE PROBLM: In our current museum, we have tried a variety of signage intended to provide information/direction to adults, about how children learn basic concepts through play.  However we have found signage to be unsuccessful. We have observed that people don’t read signs in general.  Pretend City is looking for a compelling way to engage adults in accessing and understanding more in-depth STEAM information in museum learning spaces, with the goal of introducing STEAM vocabulary to children along with scaffolding their learning of STEAM concepts, to the next levels 
• COMPETITION OBJECTIVE: The objective of the Competition is for participants to employ various technology concepts to devise a mechanism to provide adult visitors with more in-depth understanding of the STEAM learning that is occurring through children’s participation in the open-ended activities within unique Learning Spaces in the Museum.
• MUSEUM OBJECTIVE is to empower parents/adults (and older siblings) with basic STEAM information around various activities in each space, so that adults can facilitate guided play and enrich the learning for their child. 
  • To relate information to adults, that will empower them to extend their child’s learning experience through dialogue about those things in which the child is interested.  For instance, if children are interested in the building with blocks and planks at the construction site, it is a perfect opportunity for an accompanying adults to start a dialogue with them about basic STEAM principles such as gravity, balance, size, shape, hypothesizing, the scientific process,  etc.….  
  • This also creates a bonding experience between adult and child which often leads to building common interests and provides the scaffolding to take a child’s learning to the next level of understanding.  

COMPETITION RULES

Team Formation

• Teams will be formed at the kickoff event on October 12, 2022. Teams must be finalized by October 31, 2022. 
• Teams will consist of a maximum of five UCI students.
• When forming teams, students should take into account the request for teams to be interdisciplinary.
• UCI alumni are welcome to participate as mentors for the teams; however, alumni are not allowed to participate in the pitch competition or receive funding.
• Teams should follow the UCI ANTrepreneur Center code of ethics (see below).
• A visit to Pretend City Children’s Museum is required in order to experience the Learning Space environment first-hand.  The visits will be scheduled for the first week of November and at least one participant from each team will be required to attend on one of the scheduled dates during the first week in November.

• Each team will receive a transportation voucher upon request, to be used if needed for the required visit to Pretend City.
• Team must participate in final pitch competition on November 17, 2022, at which time presentations will be judged by a panel of Pretend City representatives, and a winner announced.

Pitch Presentation

• Each team will have 10 minutes to take the stage and pitch their product idea.
• Pitch presentations will be followed by a Q&A session with the judges. The total amount of time for the pitch presentation and the Q&A session should be 15 minutes or less.
1. *We reserve the right to remove the Q&A component of the competition depending on event participation.*
2. * Pitching times may change based on number of teams participating*
• At least one person per team must deliver the pitch; however, all team members are invited to participate in the pitch or the Q&A session.
• Teams can use slides during their pitch presentation, providing they meet the following criteria:
1. Slides can include animations and GIFs. Audio and/or video content/video pitch submissions will not be allowed.
2. Slides must be submitted as PowerPoint presentations with an aspect ratio of 16:9.
3. Slides must be submitted by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, Nov 15, 2022. Teams that fail to submit slides by this deadline will forfeit their right to use slides during their pitch presentations.
4. Students will be provided a handheld microphone for amplified sound as well as a clicker if they have opted to use slides during their presentation.
• A hard copy (one) of the pitch presentation will be delivered to the panel of judges after the presentation, to be used as reference for judging.  This will include a copy of the project’s proposed budget.

Project Development

• The winning team (UCI team) will move on to design and develop a prototype of the project to be installed in four Learning Spaces at Pretend City. This to include both the message “delivery” technology and the informational content to be conveyed to the adult public.
• The UCI team will develop outcomes measurements collaboratively with Pretend City staff and will facilitate outcome measurements to evaluate the efficacy of the prototypes.
• Data will be collected by the UCI team after installation, and final evaluations will be presented to Pretend City at the end of Q3 

Judging Criteria

• Teams will be judged on their ability to clearly communicate the specific “delivery” solution, and ability to provide a clear description of the information content that would be conveyed to adults through their technological solution.

• In the event of tie, the tied teams will enter a 30-second “pitch-off,” with the winner determined by the pan

Awards and Prizes

• Judges will select one team who will move on from their idea development presented at the competition, into actual design and build of a prototype. 
• Development funding per UCI team’s budget  (up to $2,500) will be awarded to the winning team to be used to develop both the technology and content needed for the prototyping of the idea.
• Prize money (minimum of $5,000 to be divided among team members) will be awarded at the completion of the project anticipated to be at the end of Q3.

UCI ANTrepreneur Center Code of Ethics    By participating in this event, you agree to do the following:

• Respect your team members and other participants
• Do your best to create an inclusive environment within your team
• Uphold standards of academic honesty and integrity
• Be supportive of team members and other participants
• Have fun and enjoy yourself!

Remember, while a competition, this event is meant to unite campus around a meaningful cause. Please be courteous, respectful, and uphold UCI’s high academic and professional standards.

Arbitration

If any disputes arise regarding the selection of contest finalists or special prize winners, arbitration will be handled at Pretend City with all involved parties present. Pretend City leadership will work with the various parties to come to a fair and final resolution.

Disclaimers

The UCI ANTrepreneur Center claims no equity rights on the ideas created or presented during the event. 

Teams that use UCI intellectual property in any way must disclose their use and understand UC Intellectual Property guidelines and regulations. Learn more about Intellectual Property at the University of California. If you have questions regarding this matter, please contact UCI Beall Applied Innovation for assistance.

QUESTIONS – Pretend City Contact:       Mariesa Acosta – Mariesa.Acosta@pretendcity.org