What do you get when you combine the boundless imagination of a child with the scientific principles of engineering? An imagineer, of course.
Three teams of fifth-graders from Oxford Elementary School participated in the 8th annual Imagineers competition held Saturday at Summit Place Mall in Pontiac.
Sponsored by the Construction Specifications Institute (an organization of architects, engineers and suppliers in the construction industry) and the Optimist Clubs of Oakland County (including Orion/Oxford Optimists), Imagineers is a design-build contest for fifth-graders.
Seventy-five teams from more than 35 schools in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties participated in this year’s competition, according to Larry Raymond, one of the event’s founders and coordinators. Raymond is a member of both the Construction Specifications Institute and the Birmingham Optimist Club.
The way Imagineers works is each three-person team decides on a need to fill or problem to solve, Raymond said. The team designs a solution, then spends weeks prior to the competition practice building a model of an invention or device to solve their problem or fill their need.
During the competition, the team has exactly one hour to construct their project using only the materials and tools provided to them.
To bring their project to life, each team receives a large kit of building toys called K’NEX ? think of them as a modern version of Tinker Toys ? which consists of plastic connectors, rods, gears, wheels, etc.
Contestants also receive a bag of ordinary household items including paper plates, Styrofoam cups, plastic spoons and forks, film canisters and lids, compact discs, paper clips, rubber bands, spring clips and plastic straws.
Just to make things more interesting and competitive, the teams receive a bag with three mystery items, two of which must be used in the project, unaltered and as major components, according to Raymond.
Raymond said this forces the teams to think on the spot and ‘gets rid of the science fair dads who build the project at home and have the kids duplicate it here.?
The mystery items given to the OES teams were a plastic bowl, small strap and a spout.
For tools, each team receives a ruler, pair of scissors, pencil, hole-punch and some blank paper. Each project must have a stable construction, fit within the length and width of a wooden board (which serves as a work space) and be no more than 18 inches high.
Raymond said the competition is designed to teach kids to be creative and utilize basic engineering principles. But its most important lesson is teamwork, he said.
‘When they first start, they’re three individuals, but they soon realize that if they work as a team, it’s a much stronger effort,? Raymond said.
Advised by fifth-grade teacher Mary Ludeman, the three teams from OES came up with some truly unique and innovative ideas.
Calling themselves ‘The Recess,? the team consisting of Daniel Stockard, Tyler Mayes, Zachary Bagnik and Chelsea Mechan (alternate) set out to solve the problem of ‘droughts and water shortages.?
The team created a device that could filter and purify any type of water, be it salt, contaminated or rain water. The salt would be sold and the ‘gunk? left over from the filtering process would be ‘turned into compost,? according to the team’s project description.
Dubbed ‘The Handicap Helpers,? the team consisting of Tyler Connelly, Sean Hunter, Blake Hunter and Anthony Cappuccilli (alternate) noticed that handicapped people don’t get to enjoy the outdoors like they do. So the team designed and built a ‘go-cart? that would allow handicapped people to ride on trails and streets, thus making their ‘life better.?
The final team called themselves ‘The Super Smarts? and consisted of Ashley Rini, Bradley Corwin, Erica Marracco and Larissa Krueger (alternate).
The Super Smarts noticed that little pets ? such as puppies, kittens, guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils ? ‘tend to escape.? So they created a pet cage to keep them ‘safe and happy.?
The state-of-the-art cage is ‘fully-equipped? with security cameras that transmit signals to monitors worn either on the owner’s wrist or in a ring, so they can see their pets ‘at all times.? A ‘softly-padded claw? picks up the pet and returns it to the cage should it escape. And to keep the pets satisfied, the cage comes with food and water dishes that refill themselves.
Although none of the OES teams made it to the finals, the lessons they learned, experiences they shared and the fun they had made them all winners in this reporter’s book.