Technology tasks take teamwork

Building a chocolate-lifting tower is all about height and stability, Issac Jones says.

Jones and his four teammates from Toko School were one of the 40 teams of year 7 and 8 students gathered at New Plymouth’s TSB Stadium on Wednesday to compete in five hands-on, practical challenges as part of the Taranaki technology challenge.

The lifting tower was the only challenge teams could practice for in the weeks leading up to the event, with the groups having to work out the best way to lift a block of chocolate as high up as possible but only using newspaper, string, tape, four hot dog sticks and a wire crank.

The 12-year-old said he liked working as part of a team and they were all looking forward to seeing whether they had beat the other team from Toko School who were participating this year.

Devon Intermediate technology teacher Chris Pollock said the event had been running for close to 20 years and the calibre of the students who participated never ceased to amaze him.

Pollock said Nick Jackson, from their sponsors Elemental Group, opened the day and aptly outlined how important it was to learn planning, problem-solving and teamwork skills.

‘‘He said, ‘you guys are going to be all the ones who are going to have to try solve all our problems in the future.’’

However of all the useful skills, teamwork was key to being successful, Pollock said.

‘‘Honestly over the years the teams that have done the best are those working as a team.’’

The five challenges included making the lifting tower, a ‘flower power’ costume, a swing for a tennis ball, a 10 second track for a tennis balland a basket capable of carrying items out of just card, string, paper clips and a hotdog stick.

Teams also had a separate project to create a golf putting machine, which were tried on a makeshift green during the lunchbreak.