OEF Engineering Fair

The Oklahoma Engineering Foundation annually sponsors and coordinates an "Engineering Fair" for 6-12th grade students. The 24th Annual OEF Engineering Fair will be held Wednesday, February 23, 2005, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., at Omniplex in Oklahoma City; N.E. 52nd Street @ Martin Luther King Blvd.

Because the cost of conducting the Engineering Fair has been underwritten by the Oklahoma Engineering Foundation and other sponsoring businesses and organizations, there are no contest registration fees or admission charges to Omniplex (except OmniDome) for this special event. The Omniplex offers many attractions, including the hands-on Science Museum, Planetarium, Air & Space Museum, Photography Hall of Fame, Berlin Wall display, Center of American Indians and several galleries, gardens and exhibits.

The Fair offers a variety of educational activities. Students will have access to some 250 hands on science and engineering related exhibits at Omniplex in addition to booths and displays of engineering and technical societies and engineering colleges. Students are encouraged to enter a number of engineering related contests and will have an opportunity to visit with professionals about the wide range of engineering and technical careers available.

The Engineering Fair presents an excellent opportunity for your school to schedule an educational field trip. We suggest that you plan a 3-hour visit. And, to minimize congestion, we also suggest scheduling your arrival time between 10:00 a.m. and Noon (if you can). Last year, almost 2,200 students were in attendance, with the majority arriving between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m.

Omniplex’s IWERKS OmniDome Theater will be open. Teachers and students can experience the thrill of a larger-than-life film. For ticket information call Omniplex at 405/602-6664.

Lunch and refreshments are available on the premises. Anyone planning to purchase lunch at Omniplex should bring about $5. Students may also bring their own sack lunches.

· Contests ·

A number of exciting and challenging contests will also be conducted during the Fair. Rules for each contest can be obtained by clicking on the links. We will also be happy to mail you the Contest Rules & Registration Form if you will send an e-mail to ospe-oef@ospe.org.

Bridge Building . Prior to Fair day, construct a model bridge, using only toothpicks and glue, to withstand the most pressure.

Eiffel Tower. Using only plastic drinking straws and plastic coated wire ties, build the tallest tower (at the Fair) that will support two touching tennis balls.

Ping-Pong Ball Launcher . Prior to Fair Day, modify a household mousetrap, giving it the capability to catapult Ping-Pong balls approximately 12’ into designated targets.

Robomaze. Prior to Fair day, construct a small autonomous mobile robot using designated pieces from the Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention Kit. The robot must follow a curved black line — back and forth between two stacks of cola cans without knocking the cans over. The top three robots that completes the task in the shortest amount of time wins.

Rubber Band Powered Vehicle . Prior to the Fair, build a vehicle having wheels which is powered only by the elastic energy of one rubber band and capable of carrying a one-pound load the greatest distance in a straight line.

Wacky Wonder Works (à la Rube Goldberg). Prior to the Fair, design and build the most complicated mechanical device to achieve a simple objective — shoot a miniature basketball into a miniature basketball goal. RULES ARE CHANGED: Please READ!!!

Essay Contest . Following the Fair students are encouraged to submit an essay on their experience, observations and/or educational benefits of their day at the Fair. Deadline is March 4, 2003. Cash prizes will be awarded to two students with the best essays ¾ one to a 6-9th grade student and one to a 10-12th grade student.

Cash prizes, ranging from $15 to $70, will be awarded to winning students or teams of each of the contests. Classrooms of winning entries (excluding classrooms of the Essay Contest winners) will also receive matching cash awards.

You can download the free contest rules at the links above. Admission to the Engineering Fair is free (except admittance to OmniDome). If you are interested in bringing students to the 2005 OEF Engineering Fair you can register free by clicking this link. Registration deadline is February 18, 2005.

Visit the OSPE/OEF web site at ospe.org. For the latest information about the Engineering Fair go to the OEF section and click on Engineering Fair. Our e-mail address is engineeringfair@ospe.org.