2019 Fluor Engineering Challenge - Post 1

I love Fluor Engineering Challenge.

Each year, Fluor comes up with fun and interesting project to challenge our students and this year is no exception. Actually, I think this year's project might be the most fun project (the school teams have participated in 2017 and 2018 challenges).

So, what is this year's challenge? Build a device to play volleyball!

Listed below are the approved materials list.

Your score is based on the amount of material your team used and a number of times the ball made it over the net without touching the ground in the allotted time.

Please, check out the website for more details.

One of the reasons why I love Fluor Engineering Challenge is the fact that this challenge has real life consequences for material choices. Things cost money, and how much or little most it cost to build your project affects the outcome of your project, too. Just like real life situations. 

Engineers can build incredibly strong and safe houses, or long-lasting batteries, or whatever it is we're looking to build. However, if these houses or batteries or whatever it is costs too much, it's out of reach for most of the people. And that's not a successful completion in real life. So, I really appreciate the cost consequences associated with every Fluor Engineering Challenge.

I am planning to do this project fairly soon. I'll keep you posted.

2019 Fluor Engineering Challenge Update Page

Have fun & have a great day!

Take the 2018 Fluor Engineering Challenge!

I became aware of this competition a little over a year ago (2017 challenge, which was different from this one) when I was perusing the sciencebuddies.com site. I thought it was interesting and tried it with my daughter's class along with a few other classes.

Though the teachers and I were concerned about spilling water in class on the carpet (yes, last year's project involved a tub of water), it wasn’t too bad. And the project was great! The students learned a lot, but more importantly, they had fun figuring things out for themselves.

Year after year, this Flour Engineering Challenge is just plain fun. But best of all, it gives your children opportunities to win money for their school.

The objective of the 2018 Fluor Engineering Challenge is to use limited materials to build one device (the launcher) that launches an aluminum foil ball and another device (the receiver) that catches the ball. The farther your ball flies before being successfully caught by the receiver, the more points you get. 

Your children can use only a limited list of materials, and there are points associated with each item. The less material your children use, the more points they keep.

List of Materials (see website for more detail description):

Corrugated cardboard base

Large paper or plastic cups

Wooden rulers

Paper

Wooden pencils

Rubber bands

Large paper clips

Roll of adhesive tape

2018 Flour Engineering Challenge Website

Challenge objective & info

In mid-February, I’m planning to do this project at a local elementary school. I’ll share the results with you afterwards.

Have fun!