Downhill Challenge

The Downhill Challenge, or Menna Ball as it was done in TE class with Mr Menna, objective was creating a inclined path for a ping pong ball to cross in exactly 15 seconds. The group that got closer to the aim of the exercise would win lots of points. We got five chances to do it and the three that were closer to the goal were going to be taken into consideration

To start, we chose our groups and started to get ideas. Then, to do the path, we could use a lot of different materials, like cardboard, plastic boxes, electrical circuits and hot glue. After building and testing the path, we got to the evaluation day, where the winner would be decided based on the themes of evaluation.

The topics of evaluation were:

(2/6 of grade) Best average: Calculate the average time using all the attempts each team had.

(1/6 of grade) Creativity: Make the most creative path of the competition.

(1/6 of grade) Appearance: How good-looking the project was.

(1/6 of grade) Best time: Get the best time of all the different attempts from each team.

(1/6 of grade) Fair Play: It's based on being respectful (no cheating). For example: blowing the friend's ball to move faster was considered unfair play. Being respectful to your own group, and not shouting while the ball is rolling was mandatory.

At the end, the groups with more points won. The winner was decided considering all the topics of evaluation. This project taught us how to plan and build a circuit for an aiming time. We also learned how to use gravity and other aspects in our favor.