Tech Directions - August 2007 - (Page 20) Bounce This Idea Off Your Students! Enter the Fourth Annual Inventors Contest L AST year’s Tech Directions Inventors Award competition drew an incredible response—far more entries than all previous competitions combined and some really excellent student entries. And now we’re back with the challenge for the 2007–2008 school year! World-renowned inventor Phineas Quirkbotham recently attended a special dinner for famous inventors, where he enjoyed a very pleasant and stimulating evening of conversation with many old friends. Everyone discussed the most difficult and unusual invention challenges that they had encountered over the years. During dessert, some of Phineas’s friends decided to challenge him with an unusual creativity task . . . something involving a very common object. They challenged him to come up with new uses for Ping-Pong balls. Phineas, in turn, passes this challenge on to the students of America! What useful new purposes can your students devise for the very common Ping-Pong ball? If Quirkbotham and inventor/ engineer/assistant judge Harry T. Roman think your students’ ideas are among the best, they will receive a Tech Directions Inventors Award certificate and their solutions will be published in the magazine. The top three competitors will also receive a book or poster of their choice from Tech Directions Books & Media. All winners will have a notable accom- plishment to list on future resumes and college applications and your technology education program will receive some excellent publicity! Here are competition guidelines: ● Students should provide a written description of their suggested uses for the Ping-Pong balls. They should use drawings to help explain the idea or illustrate any necessary modifications. All drawings should be either computer generated or hand-drawn in ink. Please use only one side of the paper. ● On a second sheet of paper, describe why the Ping-Pong ball invention is important and how it is used. What is it about the invention that improves people’s lives? ● Submit ideas by February 1, 2008. Mail all invention submissions to: Inventors Competition Tech Directions PO Box 8623 Ann Arbor MI 48107-8623 Note that the judges suggest that each student brainstorm many ideas, but select just the single best idea to submit to the competition. This approach allows for really focusing attention and effort on the best idea. The judges also encourage students to let ideas flow freely and not be afraid to unleash their imaginations. We hope you’ll encourage your students to take the Ping-Pong ball inventors challenge—and we wish them the best of luck! 20 techdirections ◆ AUGUST 2007
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