Over one term, you and your students will explore one or two themed Challenge Courses, linked to international design and technology curricula – and often to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Learn how to use 3D technology to plan, teach, and assess Design & Technologies and Engineering for K–8 students.
Access a ready-to-use Challenge Course aligned to the Australian Curriculum, designed to be completed over 4–10 weeks.
Engage students with videos, quizzes, tutorials, and design challenges — all included in each Challenge Course.
Makers Empire facilitates a mixture of short and long Online Managed Projects each year, corresponding to Australian school terms. Projects suit a range of year levels.
See the list of this year’s Projects below to find one that suits your class.
In Placemaking, learners step into the role of town designers, creating features and spaces where people can live, work and play. As part of a team, learners will create a town that reflects the needs, identities and dreams of the people who live there.
Classes will be invited to share and interact with their towns in the newly created Makers Empire Planets module. This long course aligns with UN Sustainability Goal # 11 Sustainable Communities #3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Designed for Grades 3-6.
In this short course learners discover how zoos design spaces that support animals’ natural habitats and behaviours. Learners collaboratively design, test, and build a zoo space that promotes creativity, care, and innovation.
This course aligned with UN Sustainability Goal #9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation #15 Life on Land.
Designed for Grades K-6.
What makes the World Cup such a powerful global event? In this short course, learners explore how sport connects people across cultures, nations, and generations. They apply these insights to design a mascot for their favourite team.
This course aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal #16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies.
Designed for Grades 3-6.
How do people lift, move, and build amazing things? Simple machines make work easier by using forces and motion in clever ways. In this long course, learners will explore how levers, inclined planes, pulleys, wheels and axles are used in everyday life to solve problems. They’ll apply what they learn to design and test a simple machine to solve a real-world challenge.
This course aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal #9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
Designed for Grades 3-8.
Why are toys so important to us all? How have toys changed over time? In this short course, learners will explore the enchanting world of toys from the past and present and from different cultures all around the world. They will discover what toys are made from, how they work, and what they teach us. Learners will explore simple machines and mechanisms that make toys move and apply what they learn by designing a toy for the future.
This course aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal #3: Good Health and Well-Being #12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
Designed for Grades K-6.
What makes an object significant? Why do we keep certain things, and what do they reveal about who we are? In this short course, learners explore identity, community, and nationhood through the powerful stories that objects tell. They’ll reflect on items of personal importance, investigate objects that hold meaning in their local community, and discover how libraries, museums, and other collecting organisations preserve these stories for future generations. Learners consider how objects travel through time and shape our understanding of people, places, and events. They apply their learning to design an object for a time capsule that represents their personal identity or captures the spirit of their community.
This course aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal #4 Quality Education.
Designed for Grades K-6.
Your school will need to allocate approximately 1-2 hours a week of teaching time to participate fully in the project. See below for other information.
Access to brand new, unique Challenge Course for the duration of the Online Managed Project.
Expert training and guidance from our learning team and technical support from our customer success team.
A comprehensive Project Report to share with your students, colleagues and stakeholders.
Makers Empire customers with an active subscription for their school or classroom(s) can register for Online Managed Projects for FREE.
Not a Makers Empire customer yet?
Register your interest for a Online Managed Project. We’ll contact you to confirm and clarify your registration.
The project kicks off with a teacher webinar. We support you to install Makers Empire at school (if needed). Teachers send home install instructions for parents. Teachers and students complete a pre-project survey. Teachers introduce Makers Empire to students. Students complete a Challenge Course. Makers Empire hosts an online showcase of student designs.
Teachers and students complete a post-project survey. We deliver a project report, including key outcomes, successes, improvements, survey insights, and recommended next steps. You review and share the report with your stakeholders.
Nature can be an amazing inspiration for creating art. Nature also creates its own awe-inspiring art. In this Challenge Course, students explore how artists find inspiration in the natural world, and meet some talented Australian artists who are inspired by nature to create amazing artworks using glass. Students will then design their own nature-inspired creations. For South Australian schools, this managed project is timed to coincide with the Chihuly exhibition at the Botanic Garden and State Herbarium until 29th April 2025. This course is designed for grade 3-6 students.
Stories hold the key to adventure and help us share funny, exciting, scary, and interesting tales. This Challenge Course explores elements of the narrative genre that help to define the stories we read, write, and view; character, setting and plot. Students will explore video content on each of these elements. Students will be inspired to design a character or setting that helps to tell a story of their own or retells one of their favourites. This course is designed for grade K-2 students.
What is the best playground you have ever visited? What is your favourite type of playground equipment? In this Challenge Course students will learn about playground design and the features that can contribute to a safe, healthy, inclusive, and sustainable place for children to play. Students will draw on their mathematical knowledge and skills to design a playground that addresses a design brief. This course is designed for grade 3-6 students and aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
All living things have basic needs that help them survive. Humans, other animals, and plants all need air, water, food, and shelter. In this Challenge Course students will meet many different types of living things and explore how environments meet those basic needs and how humans can help look after living things and support biodiversity in their communities. Students will choose a living thing and design a solution to help it survive and thrive. This challenge course is designed for grade K-2 students and aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goal #15: Life on Land.
Interested in signing your school or class up to this unique, scaffolded learning experience?
