Tech 2000 challenges area students

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

April 10, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Popping a balloon is easy, but popping a balloon using a 12-step process may be more difficult.

That has been the task of three Bemidji High School students recently -- to devise a Rube Goldberg device that uses at least 12 steps to accomplish a simple task, such as popping a balloon.

The senior high students are among 25 other Bemidji High, and possibly Bemidji Middle School, kids participating in the Bemidji State University Tech 2000 competition for area high schools being held today at the John Glas Field House. The annual competition is sponsored by BSU's Industrial Technology Department.

Two hundred sixth through 12th grade students -- from schools as far east as Grand Rapids, as far north as International Falls and as far south as Nevis -- will compete in four categories of events, participating in two divisions, sixth through ninth grades or 10th through 12th.

The four contests, the Rube Goldberg Machine, CO2 car racing, technology bowl and bridge building, were designed to teach problem-solving skills to students and to promote industrial technology, according to BHS industrial technology teacher David Gooch, who is advising most of the senior high students participating.

Students will compete in teams of up to four people in three of the contests, and will compete individually in the CO2 car racing event.

The technology test is designed to test students' knowledge of the four main areas of study in industrial technology -- transportation, communication, production and energy and power. The students will have about a half hour to answer a large number of multiple choice questions concerning the four categories.

Next, the same teams will be given 1 1/2 hours to construct a miniature bridge using only narrow balsa wood strips. Each team will receive 20 feet of wood to construct their bridge, and it must abide by other rules such as certain dimensions and building specifications. The goal is to see whose bridge is the most efficient.

"The purpose of the structural engineering (bridge building) contest is to provide a means for team members to demonstrate their ability to fabricate a bridge after having been assigned span and width specifications," states Tech 2000 guideline information.

The third contest involves individual students constructing miniature cars powered by CO2 cartridges. Students will compete in two classes, either the open class or stock. In the open class, participants can use any material they wish to construct the car, with a few mandated specifications. And in the stock class, the students must adhere to strict guidelines as to how the car can be constructed.

"The open cars are a little bit more exciting to watch because sometimes you don't even see them go. ... They just fly!" Gooch said.

The final contest, and probably the most intriguing according to Gooch, is the Rube Goldberg contest in which students were assigned the task of developing a 12-step, or more for bonus points, process of popping a balloon. Last year's task was to cut an index card in half, Gooch said.

"I kind of explain it to my kids as it being like the old Mousetrap game," he said. "It's kind of a Mr. Wizard thing. It just fascinates me to watch these things work."

The contest, according to the Tech 2000 information, "is based on a cartoon of the same name which illustrated inventions of incredible complexity to do incredibly simple tasks."

the contests are judged individually, and awards will be given to winners of both divisions, sixth through ninth grades and 10th through 12th, for each contest.

Gooch said the competition does a good job at opening the minds of high school industrial technology students because they learn to problem solve and also see their solutions in action. It is also an opportunity for the kids to be exposed to what is happening in industrial technology at the college level because BSU's Industrial Technology Department presents an open house the same day, displaying many pieces of work completed by college students.

The contest is open and free to the public and begins shortly after 9 a.m.