It's called the Physics Olympics, but most of the students who compete in this annual event just call it fun.

Physics Olympics!

Video and Story by Gary Olsen and
Kristen Bukawski

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he Physics Olympics has been around for more than a dozen years. What started out as one teacher's experiment with a form of project-based learning mixed with a little friendly competition (please, no wagering), is now an annual event that involves the entire 8th grade at Washington Junior High. Science teacher, Don Brauhn admits it's gotten a little out of hand, but in a good way, and his colleagues, fellow instructors, volunteers, and even a retired teacher, gladly perform the duties of judge and jury when it comes to determine winners among students.

There are not valuable prizes unless you consider learning, cooperation, teamwork and a a pretty good time in the process valuable. Actually, these are among the most valuable prizes on earth come to think of it.

Building a bridge out of a handful of wooden sticks, or constructing a tall tower of paper and just 20 centimeters of tape, or molding a boat of aluminum foil to see how many marbles one can float are just some of the categories of competition. Oh, did we forget to mention the egg drop? We were a little late to film this event, but there's always next year.

What makes this video special is something that has nothing to do directly with the contest. You are witness to the debut of a new reporter covering some of our secondary learning events. Her name is Kristen Bukawski. She's in 7th grade so she was free to cover this 8th grade event. Her interview style gets the great reactions from her subjects as they pursue their objective. It's sideline journalism at its best, and did we mention she's in 7th grade?

Instructions For Those Outside of Our School Network (The General Public)

We are now providing a choice of RealPlayer applications for you to download and install on your computer to enable you to view the video and audio files. One is RealPlayer8 and the other is RealOne Player, which is an excellent player with many new features. It's easy to install, so just follow the on-screen steps. You will be required to register with Real.com, but these are free software applications (there are versions you can pay for if you choose, but they are not necessary for basic viewing and listening).

Which Player is Best for Me?

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Macintosh Owners:

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Instructions For Machines on our School Network (Teachers and Staff)
We are recommending (and IT is supporting) RealPlayer8. This is for ALL computers on our network (in all school and administration buildings throughout the District). This includes all Windows 2000 machines. Click here to get the free player from our network server. If you do not have administrative priveleges, please call your building media specialist to help you.

 

 

 

Balancing a brick on soda straws and a little bit of tape. In theory this should have worked. Sorry to say, in practice, it didn't.

Mr. Wash holds up the brick the students have to support.
A bridge made of sticks. It sounds more like bed time story involving farm animals that talk rather than a science lesson

Retired teacher, Carl Haupert, helps out every year with events such as these.
Don Brauhn is the Washington science teacher who first sponsored a contest of this nature 15 years ago. For the past nine years, the competition has involved the entire 8th grade.
Mr. Brauhn is interviewed by Kristen Bukawski, 7th grader and video journalist for Dubuque Schools Television.
Paper towers must be carefully constructed and have sufficient base to allow maximum height. but you don't have a lot of paper and only a small strip of tape.

So what's your strategy?
This is the type of structure made from straws and duct tape that seems to work best. It has to support the brick 10 centimeters off the surface, and the support structure is weighed for competition. The lightest structure wins, of course.
Foil boats floating marbles. The object is getting the most marbles to float in the boat. The record was in the 30s believe or not.
   

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