Widget Contest
For the past several years, Gateway to Science has partnered with the North Dakota Society of Professional Engineers, Chapter 3, to host a competion event for older students. The competition is held in February in recognition of National Engineers Week.
What began as a paper airplane contest, roller coaster contest and then a Rube Goldberg contest, has evolved into the Widget contest, open to grades 9 – 12. The competition involves teams of 3-6 members designing and creating a machine that can accomplish a simple task using as many steps as possible.
A widget machine combines science, engineering, and creativity with hints of absurdity and silliness.
Pictured below are the three winning teams, all from Horizon Middle School, Bismarck. Jen Einrem, NDSPE representative, is pictured on the left with the 1st and 2nd place teams.
Team Szarkowski won 1st place in the 2012 WIDGET contest
"Mominshade" was awarded 2nd place
"Terminatori" took home 3rd place
The WIDGET contest is an annual event, so watch this page for information about the 2013 competition.
Students in grades 9 – 12 are encouraged to enter the competition. The contest goal for 2012 was to knock over a pyramid of cups. See the complete rules here.
Previous competitions have included building a machine that will roll a die in as many convoluted steps as possible without any human intervention, and building a machine to unroll a roll of toilet paper at least 50 centimeters.
For the past several years, Gateway to Science has partnered with the North Dakota Society of Professional Engineers, Chapter 3, to host a competion event for older students. The competition is held in February in recognition of National Engineers Week.
What began as a paper airplane contest, roller coaster contest and then a Rube Goldberg contest, has evolved into the Widget contest, open to grades 9 – 12. The competition involves teams of 3-6 members designing and creating a machine that can accomplish a simple task using as many steps as possible.
A widget machine combines science, engineering, and creativity with hints of absurdity and silliness.
