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Clairbourn School’s Engineering Design Challenge
Arcadia Weekly Mar 01, 2016
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Dr. Fabien Nicaise engages Clairbourn students as he speaks about JPL’s history and wide range of activities. – Courtesy Photo
By May S. Ruiz
Dr. Fabien Nicaise, a member of the technical staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is talking to a captive, albeit animated, audience of Clairbourn students who are gathered at the school’s multi-purpose building. It is a Thursday evening and he has been invited as the guest speaker for the finals of the Engineering Design Challenge, the capstone of Science Fair Week.
Before finals get underway, Dr. Nicaise gives his inspirational talk. He begins thus, “I’ve had a chance to take a look at your projects and feel I know all of you at this time. From your displays, I can see all your personalities come out and it’s so fascinating. I’ve seen seemingly trivial projects – like how to drink two beverages at the same time; to making better chew bones for your dog; all the way to building rockets, which are definitely what I care about; to the cookie-making robot. If you ever make that thing work, I want to talk to you and convince you to work for JPL.” That last sentence earns him a vigorous round of applause.
Dr. Nicaise has his audience’s rapt attention as he speaks about JPL’s many discoveries and vast range of activities. During the question and answer segment, one student asks Dr. Nicaise what he feels is the organization’s best discovery. To which he replies, “There have been so many amazing discoveries that it isn’t easy to choose just one. But I would have to say one of the most valuable is our ‘Finder’ technology. During the Nepal earthquake it was able to detect heartbeats in rubble. It is when we are able to come up with ways to save lives that make our work and organization relevant and worthwhile.” By this time his audience is fully convinced JPL is a godsend to humanity.
Clairbourn School, a Nursery through eighth grade independent school in San Gabriel, holds its annual Science Fair during the last week of February. Students work on various classroom projects using everything they have learned in their science and math classes. Words of praise coming from a well-respected scientist are music to their ears. It is a validation of their hard work.
Seventh graders Lauren Whitaker and Bailey Garcia took the grand prize for their Space Unicorn during the Engineering Design Challenge. – Courtesy Photo
The high point of this event is designing an object, using an assortment of materials, which could pass the rigors of multiple testing. The STAR (Science, Technology, and Research) Engineering Design Challenge is a closely guarded secret – it is kept under wraps for days and weeks until it is finally revealed to the entire student body.
There is a palpable sense of anticipation and excitement as middle school science teacher, Joanna Kibbe, announces at 8:30 a.m. in the morning on Tuesday, Feb. 23, that their challenge is to build a Clairbourn Cruiser. One by one she takes out from a brown bag, the materials they are to use: one dowel, three Life Savers, two pieces of penne pasta, four pasta wheels, eight pieces of ditalini pasta, two plug protectors, 20 craft sticks, four rubber bands, four large straws, two skinny straws, two wooden wheels, one deck of cards, five glue sticks, one 10-inch string, two mini CDs, four skewers, two plastic cups, one 7-inch by 5-inch piece of cardboard, one gummy bear, and the bag that holds all the objects.
The goal is to design and build the vehicle that will travel the longest distance while carrying an upright gummy bear when released from the top of a ramp. The top-scoring teams from each grade will be invited back for the finals.
A brainchild of teachers Mark Edwards and Jonathan Barner, Project STAR is a Science Fair activity that allows students to solve science problems in a hands-on, creative way. It began in 1991 and each year a changing committee, made up of administrators and teachers, think up the design challenge which rotates every year to focus on either math, invention, or experiments.
Past winners include: Jeanilou Torrado, an eighth grader who in 1992 built a ping-pong ball launcher; in 1998 seventh graders Stephen Ullom and Alex Hardt made a marble run, a track for a ball to fall into a cup; in 2001 fifth graders Albert Loong and Josh Elmore constructed a sail boat; in 2009 seventh graders Sarah Lundegard and Kendall Cory designed a parachute that had the longest hang-time in the air; and in 2015 fourth graders Melissa Pittman and Emily Wen won for their lunar lander (a capsule to parachute two marshmallows safely to the ground).
On Thursday night, Feb. 25, seventh graders Lauren Whitaker and Bailey Garcia joined an elite group of Engineering Design champions. Using an assortment of seemingly disparate materials and through sheer imagination, creativity, and ingenuity, they built the best design that passed the most rigorous testing. Their cruiser named Space Unicorn traveled 886 centimeters down the ramp, outdistancing all others.
Lauren and Bailey, exhausted but breathlessly happy, rejoice in their victory, “This was so much fun!” they enthuse in unison. “It has been a taxing endeavor because we didn’t know ahead of time what the challenge was going to be and we only had three hours to do it. We had to go back to the drawing board a few times before we came up with the cruiser that worked.”
This is Lauren’s second year at Clairbourn, and Bailey’s third. While they enjoy the annual Science Fair and competition, both confess their favorite subject is History. “Our teacher, Mrs. Corwin, makes history come alive and as exciting as if it were happening today,” they opine.
During morning chapel, right before Ms. Kibbe announces this year’s design challenge, Dr. Robert Nafie, Clairbourn’s headmaster, exhorts students, “You will not be asked to simply repeat all the information given to you – this is when you employ your thinking skills. You will be using all your readings, knowledge and experience; this is what separates man from all other creatures on earth. Today you will work in teams; you’ll figure out how to agree on things, talk out different ideas, come up with a solution. It’s what neighborhoods, nations, and international communities try to do – come together to find the best outcome for the most common good.”
Lauren and Bailey prevailed in the Engineering Design Challenge by using scientific principles they acquired in the classroom, and along with their decision-making abilities, applied these to the task at hand. Following Dr. Nicaise’s talk that night and with Dr. Nafie’s encouragement still lingering in their subconscious, they are moved to say that they aspire to one day create something for the greater good. They will do Clairbourn proud.
