Mystery Architecture - North Carolina Science Olympiad
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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