Coal City Community Unit School District 1 issued the following announcement on Nov. 20.
On November 15th, four students from Coal City Middle School competed in the National Fluid Power Association Challenge at Joliet Junior College.
The Fluid Power Challenge was created by the National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) as a way to engage students and introduce them to science and engineering in a fun environment. The Challenge allows for a hands-on opportunity for kids to experiment with fluid power while learning about the values of teamwork, problem-solving, coordination, organization, and communication.
The four students attended a workshop at JJC on September 15th where they learned about Fluid Power as well as the basics of building a machine that uses fluid power. Then, they had two months to work on their design and create an organized and professional portfolio for their project. The students worked hard for those two months. They worked every day through their lunch period and even stayed after school on several occasions to finish their portfolio and master their design.
On the day of the challenge, the group had four hours to build their machine. Unfortunately, 30 minutes before time expired, the students tested their machine. The glue was not dry and it resulted in a broken machine. They were unable to operate the machine without using their hands to guide the machine which resulted in zero points for the competition. However, the boys said that they had fun and learned a lot. With this being our first year participating in the challenge, we have also learned a lot that will help us in future competitions.
More information about the challenge can be found here: http://www.trainingupdate.org/2019/11/20/record-number-of-students-compete-in-fluid-power-competition/
Original source can be found here.
Source: Coal City Community Unit School District 1
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