Transcript Mystery Architecture - North Carolina Science Olympiad


Andrew Roberts
› [email protected]
› 7 year participant in Science Olympiad
 Multi event medal winner at regional and state
competitions
› Coached State Champions in Wright Stuff
› Lead Instructor for Science Olympiad’s
Summer Camps
› Science Olympiad Student Intern

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

Boats

Timed contraptions

Gliders

Be creative in practice
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
Load Platform
Legs
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
