Several Mars Area Centennial School students are participating in WQED’s Design Lives Here Challenge.

On Nov. 6, fifth- and sixth-graders completed the second of three investigative challenges. With a focus on the science behind potential and kinetic energy, “Down to the Core” asked the students to design and build a device that could take a core sample from a potato.

The project also offered a look at how NASA spacecrafts collect rock and soil samples to gather information about a planet, moon or asteroid’s chemistry, its geologic history, and potential to support life.

In October, the students built and tested air cannons to complete the program’s first challenge. And, later this month, the students will participate in one last investigative challenge before beginning work on a final challenge — to invent and pitch a new product or one that improves upon an existing product. 

Design Lives Here, an educational outreach based on the Design Squad Nation reality-based television program, is an engineering initiative meant to “inspire the next generation of engineers.”

For more information, visit www.wqed.org.