What is the Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition?
The first answer is that it is not a game of cards. For the first 5 years of the competition, the nice person who looked after room bookings for us thought we were playing cards. That really opened our eyes about our popularity. This is a contest where the competitors build and test bridges out of a given set of materials, according to a given set of rules. They have some fun and actually learn a little bit about how structures behave. (I warn you that the last bit is highly confidential, and the students must not find out that they’re learning!!) All competitors are on the same level playing field. There are actually six steps in the process. First, the student conceives of the shape of the structure. There is some analysis followed by design, then the building of the structure. Next comes the fun part; the testing. When the smoke and shrapnel clears, the student usually figures out what went wrong, and vows with a vengeance to return next year. Those that do almost always do better……
