Fifth Grade Students Participate
in Physics Olympics
The fourth and fifth grade
students in the "Wings" program prepared an all-morning event for the entire
fifth grade class. This event, held on May 12, 1998, was entitled "Physics
Olympics." It challenged students to use their physics knowledge, creativity
and problem solving abilities in four separate timed contests. The points collected
in the individual events were later totaled to determine the Olympics winners.
The fifth graders were divided into ten teams of four students for the
morning's events. The individual contests were: Paper Tower Building, Egg
Package Drop, Race Car Building, and Stomp Rocket Construction. In the first
event the teams were each given a stack of paper and told to build the tallest tower
possible that would remain standing through the time of judging. Several tall towers
were constructed, but most teams had a problem keeping the tower standing for more than a
few minutes. In the Egg Package Drop the students had five sheets of paper and a
yard of tape with which to make a package for a raw egg. The package was intended to
protect the egg when dropped from increasing heights. After each drop the eggs were
checked for cracks before proceeding to the next height. A few times the cracks were
very obvious!
The Winning Team in the Egg Package Drop
The
third event involved construction a race car out of a piece of Styrofoam, Tinker Toy
wheels and various other things including toothpicks, Popsicle sticks, clay and pipe
cleaners. The creatively designed cars were given two chances to roll down a
ramp. The car that traveled the greatest distance was declared the winner.
Getting Ready to Roll
The final event involved the
construction of a stomp rocket. The teams were each given a tagboard tube which was
already sized to fit snugly around the stomp rocket launch tube. The students had a
variety of other materials from which to choose to complete their rockets. The
winning rocket traveled a distance of 140 feet!
Placing the New Rocket on the Launcher
Launching the Stomp Rocket
Members
of the winning team for the Physics Olympics were Darin, Katie, Mindi and Kelly.
Second place went to Kelly, Daren, Brittany and Jason. Third place team members were
Jesse, Niki, Daniel and Ashley. The first place team members received a pizza gift
certificate courtesy of Pump 'N Pak and a can of pop. Second place finishers
received a pizza gift certificate from Pump 'N Pak and the third place team members
received a can of pop.
The students exhibited outstanding teamwork and
creativity and were rewarded with a Popsicle. Perhaps the Popsicle sticks should be
saved for next year's Physics Olympics!
First Place Team
Second Place Team
Third Place Team
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