At the beginning of the event, each team will receive an identical bag of materials.

They will have 40 minutes to build a structure/device that can be tested

The materials and structure will not be announced until the competition starts

The team can only use the materials that were given to them by the judges

There are two scoring dimensions› Primary: The main measurement that

determines the winner› Secondary: The measurement used to

break ties

Students may bring:› 1 pair of scissors› 1 ruler› 1 pair of pliers

Nothing else will be allowed

Bridges

Towers

Cantilevers

Longest/tallest

Longest/tallest to hold a certain load

At least a certain height/length that can hold the most

This event is hard to coach, because it is hard to teach students to think outside the box

You can teach them:› Good engineering principles› Good building techniques› How to work together (to an extent)

Learning to think creatively requires practice and lots of it

Tension : the member is being “pulled” on

Good Tension materials:

› Straws

› String

› Pipe cleaner (wire)

› Paperclips

› Paper

Compression : the member is being

“squished”

Good Compression Materials:

› Straws

› Toothpicks

› Popsicle sticks

› Cups

› Rolled up paper

Legs

Load Platform

Cross Bracing

Counter Balance

Table

Load Applied Here

Good:

•Doubled up straws for legs

•Triangles for bracing

Bad:

•Not level

Good:

•Very level

•Triangles for bracing

Bad:

•Legs are single straws instead of double

Good:

•Very level

•Triangles for bracing

•Multi-strawed legs

Bad:

•Added extra materials just to use them

Conserve materials in case you have to reuse something

Cut tape in half Unravel string Bring good tools (especially scissors) Practice, practice, practice Practice with different materials Save straw wrappers