This
is part of the main hall at Maidstone Grammar School, where 16 teams from
six local secondary schools gathered to take part in our third annual
Rotary Technology Tournament (RTT).
RTTs are a design/build contest, against the clock, for teams of four students. Each team has a standard pack of materials and a sealed envelope with the brief for a technology problem. By the end of the day, they will have built and tested a solution, and learnt some 'real-world' lessons about teamwork, planning, working with limited resources, and woring to a tight deadline.
At the moment, all is calm just before the 9:30 am briefing and the signal to open their envelopes....
....
which is also the signal for some heavy thinking. For the first half-hour,
no construction is allowed, and competitors are expected to work up their
concept designs. 
The
task is graded at three levels, Basic for Years 7-9 (KS3), Intermediate
for Years 10-11 (KS4), and Advanced for years 12-13 (sixth form). Adults
present may offer a bit of "design consultancy" to the younger
teams, to ensure they get a good start.
For RTT2002, the tasks involved graphic design (an advert for a computer game) a stable structure and a flashing light. The older competitors had to build more accurately: the Intermediate task required the light to flash 10 times, and the Advanced task required accurate timing.
A
pendulum is the obvious mechanism, here modelled by Roy Nash, but other
solutions were tried. To get the timing right, the advanced teams either
had to know a formula to calculate the length of the pendulum, or rely
on trial and error. As the pendulum had to be about a metre long, and
none of the materials was longer than 800mm, this gives a few more structural
design problems.
Structural
work gets under way. Most teams opted for a pylon structure, with variations
on an easel being the second most popular. One team, the overall winners,
used their large sheets of cardboard to form a structural tube.
This
year, graphic design was important part of the brief, with a significant
miniority of the overall marks.
Teachers
accompanying their students are formed into ad hoc teams and have to undertake
the Advanced task. This gives them less time for 'coaching' and also gives
a competitive edge to the Advanced teams especially when, like this year,
they get beaten.
Some
of the finished work, brought forward for judging and testing. Not an easy
job for the judges.
Results:
Advanced Task: Maidstone Grammar
School
Intermediate Task: Oakwood Park Grammar School
BasicTask: Maidstone Grammar School
Task prizes are Book Tokens donated by Bedford
Partnership
Best Graphic Design: Invicta Grammar School Intermediate team, who win a book on commercial graphic design for their school library, donated by Colin Hall & Partners.
Overall Winner: Maidstone Grammar School Advanced team, who win a digital camera for their school, donated by Atlantic Wealth Management Ltd
We
couldn't resist slipping in a few pictures from RTT2001, when the task was
to launch vertically and recover a package of scientific instruments (OK
then, a ping pong ball)
...and
one of the overall winners (Astor of Hever School, basic team) from our
first RTT in 2000. This bridge, constructed of Artstraws and thin card,
can support a 2.5kg weight over a span of 800mm; an impressive performance
from a team of 12-13 year olds
