Hilltop MS takes top prize at 8th Canadian Fluid Power Challenge

May 12, 2008

From left: The team from Hilltop Middle School (Joshua Netterfield, Sally Zhang, Meaghan Vydelingum, Peter Avenins and Hilltop Middle School science teacher Sonia Albo) took first place at the Canadian Fluid Power Challenge, held in May.

On May 8th, teams from 18 west Toronto middle schools competed in the eighth annual Canadian Fluid Power Challenge. Held in Etobicoke, the competition challenged the gender-balanced, four-student teams to design and build fluid-power mechanisms for placing an object into a hopper and removing it from a chute.

In addition to the efficiency with which students machines completed the task, students were also judged on the material costs associated with their machines. To arrive at the final score, the number of pick-and-place cycles a school’s machine completed in the demonstration time was divided by the total cost to calculate a dollars-per-cycle measure that will weigh heavily in the final evaluation.

True to its heritage as the school that lent the challenge its original name, Hilltop Middle School took the top honour this year. While the team’s complex scissor-lift machine didn’t complete more pick and place cycles than some other competitors, judges said a combination cost effectiveness and the team’s presentation materials put the Hilltop team in the lead. Islington Junior Middle School came in second and Hodgson Senior Public School rounded out the field in third.

“We’re really starting to see a marked improvement in the understanding that teachers have of fluid power and mechanical design principles,” said Steve Rogers of Kidder- Technology Teaching Systems who acts as facilitator for the Challenge.

“It’s obvious from the diversity of the machines that the teachers involved still allow the students to develop their own designs. But, with the knowledge and skills they have learned through previous Challenges, they are now better able to bring to the students’ attention potential problem areas and to offer general suggestions for dealing with them.”

The Challenge, which is a partnership of the Canadian Fluid Power Association, Kidder – TTS, and the Toronto District School Board is intended to provide Grade 8 students with hands-on experience building a mechanism with real world applicability and to open their eyes to the world of technology careers.
www.cfpa.ca