Teachers’ STEM Tinkering Hackathon: Building Geodesic Dome
Date of Hackathon:Jul 31,2025
The term “hackathon” combines “hack” (creative problem-solving or exploring solutions) and “marathon” (a short, time-bound challenge). Hackathons are events where participants collaborate in teams to create prototypes, solutions, or products within a limited timeframe. These events promote creativity, rapid learning, teamwork, and practical problem-solving.
Teachers are building geodesic domes through tinkering and teamwork
To introduce this hands-on approach into the school learning environment, a STEM Tinkering Hackathon was organized for teachers. The challenge tasked them with designing and building a 2V geodesic dome using simple connectors and PVC struts, guided by an instruction manual. Each team of ten teachers studied the manual, distributed tasks, and chose either a top-down or bottom-up building approach.
Steps to Create a Geodesic Dome
Through this activity, teachers explored geometry, engineering, science, and technology concepts in a fun and engaging way. Constructing the dome helped them understand structural stability, load distribution, and the strength of triangular forms used in both natural and human-made structures. It also encouraged teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, and hands-on learning, illustrating how such experiences can enrich classroom teaching.
Teachers showcase their hands-on skills in the STEM tinkering Hackathon challenge
The connectors were designed in TinkerCAD, a free, online 3D modeling tool by Autodesk that runs in a browser and is popular among beginners, students, teachers, and makers. The struts were made from PVC pipes. With 3D printers becoming more common in schools under the National Education Policy 2020, teachers can guide students to design joints in TinkerCAD, 3D print them, and construct their own geodesic domes. This makes the hackathon experience easily adaptable for classrooms, encouraging students to learn STEM concepts by doing, experimenting, and collaborating.