Tech Challenge Teaches Fun Lessons
By Sharael Feist
April 22, 1999
Tech Challenge ’99 is over, the mast-climbing devices are packed away or dismantled, and the students are working on other projects. But, the experience has left the student participants with great memories and a better understanding of teamwork and technology.
For one last time, America True checked in with Stephanie and Todd, the two students we’ve been following on the Web site throughout the competition. We wanted to see what they had to go through for the finals, and what they learned from the challenge.
We last checked in with Stephanie and Todd while they were getting ready for the trials, a time when students were allowed to test their devices before the actual final competition.
Stephanie’s team didn’t compete in the trials because they hadn’t finished constructing their device in time. Todd’s team didn’t compete in the trials either, but they did attend to check out the competition and to see how other teams designed their contraptions.
Stephanie and Todd worked with their teams to complete their devices in time for the finals. Todd was surprised at how much work was involved in building the device.
“It took a lot longer than we actually thought it was going to take,” Todd said. “Then the night before the finals we had an engine failure and had to stay up late fixing it.”
Stephanie’s team used some plastic, five wheels, a lever, a battery, a motor in a gear box, and one axle to build their triangular device. Todd’s team soldered lightweight brass together to build the frame, using six wheels, two electric motors, batteries, hinges, and a rubber band for their hexagonal device.
Todd said that it took a lot of math, especially geometry, to determine the size and length of their design. This is similar to what boat designers go through when trying to build a fast boat.
When the final competition took place on Wednesday, April 14, both teams were well prepared. The teams completed a survey about the process they followed during the competition. They then had weigh their devices to see if they met the weight limit. Next they had team photos taken as souvenirs. While waiting in line, Stephanie’s team encountered some trouble.
“The battery in our device went dead,” Stephanie recalled. “We changed it, but it still wasn’t working. Then when we were waiting for the judges, a lever broke and we couldn’t get our device to reverse.”
Stephanie’s team found a string and tied it to the bottom so that once their device made it to the top of the mast, they could pull the string to get it to come back down. Sometimes a little on-the-spot ingenuity is required to make something work.
The teams went on to a grueling question and answer period with the judges. Both Stephanie and Todd agreed that talking with the judges was an important part of the process. They had to show the judges a journal of the process they went through to come up with their device. The final task was to test the device to see if it actually worked.
“It made it to the top,” exclaimed Stephanie, proud of her team’s efforts. They were very happy to see that all of their hard work had paid off and their device worked as planned. One reward was satisfaction in accomplishing the task.
Todd’s team made it to the top of the mast and back in a record 17.9 seconds, earning them an award for the fastest device. For their efforts they received Microsoft Sidewinder Pro joysticks, tee shirts from Intel, and a copy of the book, <i>Race to the Moon.</i>
Both teams said that the competition was a learning experience. Stephanie said that she learned a lot more about gears, motors, wiring and circuitry. She also said that if she had to do it all over again she would have done more research and would have learned more if they followed a more scientific process. Todd said that he learned a lot about design and where things need to be.
“Teachers are always saying that you need to learn what they’re teaching you, and the competition reinforced why I need to learn geometry,” he added.
Both Stephanie and Todd agreed that the Tech Challenge helped them learn, and it was a lot of fun.
Stephanie’s team included Jenny Hsia, Jemma Escobar, Erin Mahan, and Naomi Sugie. Todd’s only other team member was Marc Guest.