Engineering Olympics Ideas

[Celia]

One fun idea is to build a "roller coaster" of sorts out of paper, tape, and pipe cleaners. Have participants construct a track to tape to the wall for a ping pong ball to run down. You can decide different challenges, like requiring two jumps and five "thrills". The ball must safely harbored at the end in order to be considered. Maybe give fifteen minutes.

Another is to build a car out of cardboard, small wooden discs, and chopsticks (axles). Participants roll the car down an incline, the goal being to land it in a defined area. Like a bulls eye, the prime target is worth the most points, and the further away from the middle, the less points earned. Again, takes about fifteen minutes.

I confess, both ideas were taken from the Women in Engineering Summer Youth Program at Michigan Tech. Feel free to PM me if you want a more detailed explanation/clarification or pictures of either events.