Dear Grade 8 Parent and Pupil
It is my pleasure to invite you and your child to the Annual Grade 8 Bridge Building Competition at Cornwall Hill School.
The event will be governed by the rules of the School of Civil Engineering's Bridge Building Competition at the University of the Witwatersrand and falls under the auspices of the South African Institute of Civil Engineers. The bridges are to be designed and built by father and child.
A - PURPOSE OF THE COMPETITION:
The competition will function on the following levels:
i) Social -
As a pupil and parent bonding exercise, please excuse the pun! I thought that the competition would be a good stimulus to team up dad and child in the form of a focused practical task to experience the joy of structural design. It will basically function as an alternate group work exercize.
ii) Academic -
For the pupil to learn about: applied structural theory; material properties of wood and epoxy glue; computer aided design; elementary project planning; interpretation of a complex brief; optimal use of material; presicion building by means of a cutting template.
iii) Scholastic-
The competition functions as the terms major project for each pupil in grade 8 and the attained mark for the bridge will form half of the term 3 CASS mark together with the standardised test. The mark for the competition will be awarded in two parts as follows:
Part A -
Pupils receive 50% before the bridge gets load tested if they have built the bridge to specification.
5% will be deducted for every specification not met.
and
Part B -
To make up the remaining 50% the bridge then gets load tested.
Each kilogram that the bridge holds will count for 1%.
Bridges that were not compliant with specifications will receive a 25%-75% deduction from the load that the bridge bears in accordance with the level of advantage gained by the non compliance. Adding extra wood and glue and building a shorter bridge makes the bridge unfairly strong on an exponential level and will receive the more severe % deductions on the load beared.
Bridges normally hold an average of 20kg - 30kg but can hold as much as 170kg for pupils that apply the theory correctly. It is therefore quite attainable to get a mark of 80% for a specification compliant bridge that bears a 30kg load.
iv) Competitive -
The competition also doubles up as the schools inter-house bridge building competition and as trials to select the six best bridge builders that will represent the school at the Regional Civil Engineering competition which takes place in “The Great Hall" at Wits in middle March 2010.
B - ORDER OF EVENTS:
i) Lessons, discussions and demonstrations - term 2
In the second term pupils are lectured on structural theory and shown demonstrations of an actual model bridge and loading harness as used in the competition. They are also shown Dvd's on structural design, talked through the bridge building brief and the frequently asked question section of the blog site is gone through in some detail.
ii) A dedicated blog site - all year
The competition blog site has been established to deal with any queries; update information; provide a gallery of helpful diagrams and photos; store essential competition documentation; and field frequently asked questions. All queries are addressed and suggestion on how to improve the competition are most welcome.
iii) Talk shop and information evening - 15 June 2009
After an initial period of immersement into the competition rules and structural theory participants are invited to an evening talk shop in the schools auditorium where any issues are addressed which might need clarification. For 2010 a guest lecturer is envisaged.
iv) Standardised test - 17 June 2009
The structural knowledge of the pupils are tested formally, amongst other work covered in the term in the terms standardised test.
v) Submission of West Point Bridge (Computer Aided) Design plan - 25 June 2009
Pupils experiment with various designs and attempt to build the cheapest bridge on West Point bridge designer(WPBD), a specialized software program for bridge design.
vi) Exam - 23 July 2009
The structural knowledge of the pupils are tested formally, amongst other work covered in the term in the school's end of term exam.
vii) Submission of the cut and build template on Technology day - 30 July 2009
Final approval of the cut and build template to receive wood (Normally in the week after exams)
Pupils are given the entire school day to use the basic shape of the WPBD program and adapt it to the specifications of the competitions bridge building brief.
They need to submit and have approved a 1:1 cutting template in order to receive their wood. The template ensures that the essential design elements of the bridge has been met in terms of the competition specifications and prevents heartaches on the day of the competition if any major parts of the brief has been misinterpreted. The pupils normally get it right on the thrid attempt.
viii) Comment report - 31 July 2009
The pupils are given a comment report that details their assessed state of readiness for the competition.
ix) Bridge building afternoon - 9 September 2009
Pupils bring their bridges to school and iron out any problems during the afternoon. (Compulsory for pupils who have not had their cutting templates approved but voluntary to pupils who have started building.)
x) Main event at the school pavilion - 3 October 2009 (Carnival day)
The bridges are finally tested. Parents are encouraged to take photos during the competition as there is normally not much left of the bridge after testing. Pupils must ensure that their own bridge is ready for testing and then test the bridge with the assisatnce of their dad sometime during the allocated time period. Participants need not attend the event start to finish but are required to be present for the testing demonstartion and medal ceremony.
Carnival programme - times and order of events (to be finalised)
* Registration and checking of basic compliance for specifications as per brief.
* Demonstration on how to use the loading apparatus and test the bridge to teams.
* Bridge testing commences by parent and pupil overseen by judges.
* Bronze medals awarded by the headmaster position 20 - 14
* Silver medals awarded by the headmatser for position 15 - 2
* Gold medal and permanent trophy awarded by the headmaster to the position 1.
* Inter-house winners with the highest load average are announced.
xi) Wits Civil Engineering Competition in the Wits Great Hall - Middle March 2010
The top six pupils designers receive new wood and glue and rebuild their bridge. On the day of the competition Mr Buys leaves at 11am by 22 school bus and the pupils have lunch at the University of Witwatersrand with the compliments of the school.
Pupils pre-enter their bridges in the hall and parents are invited to watch a usually very informative and entertaining Dr Luka, who heads the Universities' Civil Engineering Department, test the bridges with the help of the staff from the engineering department. The top 5 bridges are kept for closer inspection. Pupils can win cash prizes for the first 3 places which normally range from R1000 - R250. The competition normally finishes around 4pm.
xii) SAICE National Competition - Late to middle August 2010 (optional)
The designers may opt to attend this one day event where a single bridge is built by the group in one day. There rules are very similar to the schools competition but is strictly voluntary as the event is normally held over the Cornwall Hill holiday period and only done when the pupils feel that they would like yet another shot at being top dogs in the pin jointed truss community.
C - OTHER CLARIFICATIONS:
i) Tools -
The only essential tool that is needed is a pair of pliers to cut the wooden sticks with. There are also other aids such as clothing pegs and masking tape to hold the sticks in place while they dry; matches to mix and apply small dabs of glue and old newspaper to cover and protect the desk surface being worked on.
ii) The role of the parent -
The role of the parent is purely that of assistance and positive motivation during the design, building and testing of the bridge. Parents are not suddenly required to be engineers and, to build the bridge for their children, is not within the spirit of the competition. Some enthusiastic parents may choose to immerse themselves in the theory and building, but such behaviour is certainly not a requirement.
Parents can rest assured that pupils receive enough instruction and practical know how from the classes at school. Parents are to please understand that the intention of the project was to create an opportunity for parent and child to work together on something that is socially and acdemically rewarding and the intent is certainly not cause any friction or tension between parent, child and school.
iii) Problem solving and feedback -
Please feel free to submit any questions, concerns, suggestions and observations to Mr. Buys via the contact information below. All contributions are welcomed no matter how small or trivial they may seem.
Yours in Technology
Marius Buys
Cell: 076 800 698 83 ( Working hours)
Blog site - http://grade8bridgebuilding.blogspot.com/
E Mail - m.buys@cornwall.co.za (School term)
E Mail - mariusbuys@gmail.com (School holidays and weekends)
