ERIC EJ847356: Operating a Successful PowerTech Creativity Contest

2007·0.15 MB·English

by  ERIC

Operating a Successful PowerTech Creativity Contest
Jon-Chao Hong, Chan-li Lin, and Ya-ling Lin 25
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Abstract and deepen their effort to create technological rn
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To help cultivate future talent for creating ability in young students. o
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technology, the PowerTech Youth Creativity Te
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Contest was first held in 2000 by the Taiwan According to the investment theory of hn
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Creativity Development Association (TCDA) creativity by Sternberg (1995), creativity requires lo
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and the National Taiwan Normal University aconfluence of six distinctive resources: intellec- y
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(NTNU). It has since been organized regularly tual abilities, knowledge, thinking styles, person- tu
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on a yearly basis, with the number of contending ality, motivation, and environmental context. ies
teams growing from 78 in the first year to 414 In other words, in order to create effectively,
in2006 (3-4 members each team). The cate- individual creators must possess sufficient
gories have been extended from the elementary domain knowledge and realize their full intellec-
school level to include junior high school cate- tual potential. To help technology take root,
gories. The activity design adopts the project- educators need to devise a group activity and a
based learning approach and aims to develop mechanism to involve students and encourage
important technological creation abilities for them to explore technological inventions. This
students, particularly with respect to knowledge paper therefore focuses its discussion on the
application, psychomotor skills, and creative operations of the PowerTech Youth Creativity
thinking in which the planning ability,imagina- Contest (henceforth PowerTech Contest) from
tion, analytical skill, and implementation ability the group activity-mechanism perspective.
will be developed, and some affective domains
The Rationale of PowerTech Contest
such as persistence, high regard for efficiency,
Sternberg(1985) developed a triarchic
quality improvement ability, and teamwork spirit
theory of intelligence, highlighting the individual
will be cultivated through project competition
differences in intelligence and dividing human
and realization.
intelligence into analytical, creative, and practi-
cal intelligences. These are described as follows:
The purpose of this article is to describe
(1) analytical intelligence includes the ability
the operation principles behind the PowerTech
to analyze, compare and contrast, evaluate,
contest from four different dimensions:
explain, judge, and criticize, (2) creative
(1) contest design and its rationale, (2) contest
intelligence includes the ability to create, design,
promotion which includes the application of
invent, imagine, and suppose, and (3) practical
information technology (IT), and the social
intelligence includes the ability to use, apply,
resource identification and application. It is
implement, employ, and contextualize.
hoped that the discussion of this article will be
valuable as a referential basis to organizers of
In other words, technological creation
similar activities.
should be a comprehensive embodiment of a
Introduction pool of integrated abilities, including knowledge
Education reformisanecessarymeans to application, practical intelligence, thinking abili-
the enhancement of national competitiveness, ty, and action taking (Magee, 2005). Taiwanese
including intra-institutional or extra-institutional students in general performvery well in knowl-
educational reformmeasures aimed at equipping edge memorization and reasoning, but they are
learners with creative abilities or problem – rather weak in knowledge application and inno-
discovering and solving skills. The ability to vation. Regarding practical intelligence, the
create technology,in particular,helps laythe majority of the students in Taiwan are lacking in
foundation for national competitiveness. This is hands-on experiences. Many school assignments
why the cultivation of technological - creating that require hands-on practice are often done by
abilities in the younger generations has always parents. In terms of thinking ability, the current
been among the top priorities of domestic edu- constructivist teaching approaches in Taiwan
cational reform measures. In light of this, tech- have led to a general lack of plurality and flexi-
nology educators too should striveto broaden bility among students, particularly with respect
totheir problem-discovering and problem-solv- f. Competition stimulates persistence
ing abilities. The situation is worse with elemen- and cultivates sportsmanship.
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tary school pupils because the younger the age,
g. Team cooperation embodies the con-
dies the more easily bored the students become. This cept of symbiosis and makes students
u shows that domestic students in general lack the
t abetter team player.
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abilities to implement and complete a task.
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olo 2.Socially
n Given this background, many nationwide
h a. The organization of a nationwide
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Te contests to create technologies have based their contest for technological creation helps
of contest design on the successful development of involve people at all levels of the socie-
al such abilities as knowledge application, pluralis-
n ty and boosts their interest in techno-
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u tic and flexible thinking, practical intelligence,
o logical creation.
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e and a careful attitude in students. According to
h b. The organization of a nationwide
T the spirit of the Nine-Year Integrated
technological creation contest increases
Curriculum for Mandatory Education in Taiwan,
opportunities for inter-school exchange.
adomestic technological creation contest should
strive to cultivate the following 10 abilities for c. The activity itself helps the concept of
students: technological creationto take root into
the daily lives of the citizens.
1. Self-understanding and potential
development. 3.Economically
2. Appreciation, performance, and a. The cultivation of product R&D
innovation. capabilities helps increase the added-
3. Career planning and life-long learning. value of technological products.
4. Expression, communication, and b. The cultivation of manufacturing R&D
sharing. capabilities helps boost production
5. Respect, caring, and teamwork. efficiency and quality.
6. Cultural learning and international
Theme Selection and Its Meaning
understanding.
7. Planning, organization, and From the corporate management point-of-
implementation. view, the PowerTech Contest itself can be seen
8. Technology and information application. as the product, and the participating students are
9. Activeexploration and research. its customers. In order to capture preciselywhat
10. Independent thinking and problem the market demands are we need to develop and
solving. put in place a system of effective management.
Cooper (1993) pointed out in his review of three
Furthermore, technological creation con- high-tech product cases following the common
tests for youths have the following personal, characteristics of successful technological inven-
societal, and economic benefits: tions: (1) close collaboration between the inven-
tor and the customer, (2) well-defined market
1.Individually
demands, and (3) the existence of a technical
a. Pre-production design drawing
champion. Based on the rationale discussed in
improves planning ability.
the previous section and the past experience of
b. Flexible thinking and knowledge TCDA and NTNU organizing the youth creativi-
synthesis enhances imagination. ty camp activity, the PowerTech organizers
selected “The Queen of Ants” and “King of
c. Project production encourages
Beasts” as the theme for elementary school stu-
independent thinking and promotes
dents to compete and “The Totoro of Buses” and
originality.
“The Giant of Bugs” for junior high school stu-
d. Comparison of their own and rivals’
dent to compete, with an aim to develop the par-
work helps them to learn analytical
ticipants’ability to construct and improve their
skills.
technological knowledge. The contest requires
e. Utilization of equipment and hand tools rival teams to applyrelevant theories of physics
for material processing, production, and for the internal structure of their invention,
formative design improves practical including the electrical motor and the gear set in
skills. the power system, and the linkage mechanism in
the transmission system. Since no specifications and linkage devices. An animal appearance is
and dimension requirements are given for the also an important part of the competition, and
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final product, teams are allowed to fully stretch the competing teams are free to add any aesthet-
their creativity and are required to search for the ic element or any defensive/offensive function Th
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needed knowledge and to put their theories into to their creation. J
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practice. In addition, students also need to learn ur
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to utilize unprocessed materials provided by the In junior high school competition, the first al
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contest organizers and apply their creative think- theme is “The Totoro of Buses,” a four-wheel- f
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ing skills to produce a project. Below is a brief drive vehicle with an arch-shaped roof that can ec
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summary of the characteristics of the end prod- maintain a continuous and smooth movement of no
uct, and the categories and method of the rolling over when it hits against a vertical wall log
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competition. through its wheel-body coordination and center- S
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of-gravity design. “The Giant of Bugs” requires d
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Contest Theme Selection the use of a linkage structure together with the s
The elementary school competition has crank movement and the front-end chassis-to-
two themes. The first theme “The Queen of ground friction design to enable the Bug to
Ants” requires a final structure that contains a crawl forward with alternating stretching and
body comprised of three separate parts linked recoiling movements like a caterpillar. The
with a linkage device and a cross-shaped foot competition is divided into different categories
stand. The final product is expected to perform according to the level of difficulty in project
the mechanical functions of spinning and cross- production and mechanical requirements, and it
ing a hurdle. The second theme “The King of is conducted in twostages (preliminaryand
the Beasts” requires a final structure that has the final).
ability to walk with four legs by using crank
Table 1. Four Projects of Technological Creativity Contest
Item Description
The Queen of Ants The Queen of Ants is a robot with a structure with three interconnected body parts
and a crossed-legdesign for hurdle crossing. Pupils can learnabout the various
fundamental technological concepts through the design of a power system,
including the gear drivesystem (the principle of leverage), DC electricity applica-
tion features (difference between parallel and serial circuits) and component linking
methods, all of which are useful for creation of technological products of different
mechanical structures and functionalities.
The King of Beasts The King of Beasts is a four-legged,animal-looking walking robot for use in a
wrestling contest. In addition to the relevant principles of physics mentioned
above, pupils can also learnabout the basics and the design of a linkage structure,
and about howto transformthe rotarymovement of a motor into linear movement,
and how to increase friction (by increasing product weight or changing the
material texture, etc.) in the contest.
The Totoro of Buses The Totoro of Buses is a four-wheel-drive motor vehicle with an arch-shaped
roofline design to capacitate continuous rolling movement. Through motor-driven
vehicle design and production, pupils can learn about gravity (vehicle body’s
center of gravity) of vehicle body, centrifugal force (generated during rolling),
streamline design, etc.
The Giant of Bugs The Giant of Bugs is a robot emulating the stretching and contracting movement
of a real wormfor use in a straight-line speed race and a tug-of-war contest. In
addition to providing pupils an opportunity to synthesize various concepts of
physics and to develop a basic understanding of biology, the product requires the
use of environment-friendlymaterials and processing methods for appearance
design. This helps incorporate the concept of biological chain into product design,
and this challenge demands a good balance between the mechanical and functional
structure of the product and its appearance design.
Content Method Analysis Operating a Successful PowerTech
The PowerTech Contest requires the creative Contest
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project to be produced and completed on site The goal of the contest is to help students
es within the one-day competition. During the pro- to learn to utilize limited resources to achieve
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in an isolated area to protect them against exter- tation, and evaluation. Therefore, the operation
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Te teacher advisors and parents, who are only materials, and finances. As a regular activity of
of allowed to observe the contest from outside the anonprofit organization, a PowerTech Contest
nal isolation line. This particular arrangement has indeed faces serious obstacles in all aspects in
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o been used to ensure that the entire competition its pursuit for sustainability. Hence, an effective
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e process and setting are fair, just, and open. management mechanism is required in order to
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help the contest overcome the various challenges
The PowerTech Contest contains three it may face in the course of development.
subcategories: power contest (e.g., speed racing
and push), form design contest, and innovation As already mentioned in the previews sec-
process records contest. In power contest, the tion on PowerTech Contest rationale, in order
contesting teams are required to make designs to create a technological project, students must
for each required contest item according to the have abundant knowledge and possess various
mechanical features under the given theme. At skills and capabilities (including knowledge
the same time theymust takeinto consideration application, plurality and flexibility in thinking,
the respectiveconstraints of each required item, and implementation and persistence). The
and then seek to optimize the mechanical Ministryof Education has also pointed out that
design. Table 1 summarizes the different contest technology should be an integral part of the
items for respective themes. learning of Natural Science and Life Technology
in its Nine-Year Integrated Curriculum for
In the innovation process records contest, Mandatory Education. Currently, however,
an expert review meeting was convened one students’understanding and skills for technolog-
week before the final competition to evaluate ical creation remain largely insufficient for a
the innovation process records of the rival successful implementation of the new curricu-
teams, which should include their problem-dis- lum. Therefore, in preparing for the contest, the
covering and problem-solving methods, idea- organizers foresawseveral problems. First, who
searching and idea-generation methods, and should be the target audience of the contest?
technological innovation processes that were Because students largely lack technological
recorded during their meetings with their teacher creation capabilities, the end “product” may not
advisor. The form design contest was held on be one that could be sold on the market, and the
the dayof competition, and the evaluation is goal of helping to cultivate students’technologi-
based on the contesting teams’overall structure cal creation abilities may not be fully realized.
design, color applications, environment-friendly The second challenge was about how to get the
material employment, and processing skills. The word out to the target audience. What could be
final score is determined by the total score of all done to improve the visibility of the activity
the subcontests. In other words, the contesting among possible contestants? This second
teams are required to put in a carefully meas- question would entail marketing.
ured amount of effort into the respective prelim-
inary contests in order to win the game. Through The organizers mistakenly decided to
participating in the entire process from planning address the second question first during the
and design to pre-contest practice and the final first-year of the contest due to a lack of experi-
competition, students should be able to develop ence. The organizers adopted a media propaga-
abasic design concept that emphasizes not only tion strategy, but much of the effort was to no
the mechanical function but also the formative avail. That experience taught the organizers to
design, instead of overemphasizing one aspect deal with the first challenge first in order to
at the expense of the other. process a successful event. In addition, for the
contest to continue yearly, the organizers also
need to address the issue of sustainability. And
this third problem has to do with the sustaining junior high school campuses to provide guidance
of participants’motivation and interest. Below is and to help increase the ability and confidence
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abrief discussion of how these three difficulties of prospective participants. The flowchart of the
can be resolved. PowerTech Contest is shown in Figure 1. Th
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The problem of “Who is Capable?” The problem of “Who should promote to?” u
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Since most of the students had no previous Compared to the National Science Fair a
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experience making technological creations in that already has a history of over 20 years, the of
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school, they probably had little self-confidence PowerTech Contest is relatively new and e
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for such a contest. It is therefore important to unknown to most of the parents and teachers. n
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provide a learning opportunity for those who To acquaint and familiarize parents and teachers lo
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were willing to give it a try. Also, considering with the contest, multiple media channels were S
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the fact that the contest is at “national level,” used and a consulting center was established to d
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such a learning opportunity has to be provided help promote the activity and provide all neces- s
nationwide, not limited to certain cities or sary assistance. The media promotional cam-
counties. According to “The Tipping Point: paign was divided into two stages. In the first
How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” stage, reports plus advertisement were published
(Gladwell, 2000), a contest must have relevant in Mandarin Daily News whose main readers are
connectors in order to become popularized. In elementary school teachers and students, and
other words, teacher’s interest has to be cultivat- other print media such as promotional leaflets
ed first, instead of students, and they had to be and direct marketing materials, were placed in
provided with technological creation experiences. technological-innovation-related social and edu-
The organizers therefore recruited students from cational institutions, including the National
college-level teacher-education programs to form Museum of Natural Science, the National
the Youth Technological Creation Service Teams Science and Technology Museum, and the
and to provide necessary training to them. The Science Education Center. All promotional
purpose of setting up these teams is twofold: (1) materials included a brief introduction about the
toprovide an educational internship opportunity organization and implementation of the activity
for these college students, and (2) to reduce the as well as the contact information. During the
budget requirement for organizing teacher-train- second stage, organizers started promotional
ing programs as part of the PowerTech Contest activities, provided guidance on school campuses
promotional campaign. and established a PowerTech Contest Consulting
Center to coordinate the handling of inquiries.
During the second-year PowerTech training, In addition, the TCDA created a new column on
the service teams used the National Museum of its organizational Website to disseminate relevant
Natural Science and the National Science and information about the contest, including techno-
Technology Museum as their bases to train seed logical innovation teaching, FAQs, and online
teachers by stages and to utilize various collabo- registration, in order to increase the visibility
rative learning mechanisms through knowledge of the contest and the registration rate. Through
collection, diffusion, transmission, and innova- these efforts, the number of participating teams
tion in order to help the trainees to help their grewexponentially from 78 in the first year to
students. In addition, to increase participation 414 in 2006.
rate, the service teams toured elementary and
Figure 1. Power Tech contest flowchart
PowerTech Youth Creativity Contest Creation
Youth Creativity Contests Service Team Training
Seed Teachers Training On-Campus Consulting/Teaching
PowerTech Youth Creativity Contest
The problem of “Who has the willingness?” believed that the PowerTech Contest will
According to the theories of incentives continue in the years to come.
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(Rice, 2006; Baer, Oldham & Cumming, 2003),
es one would offer a “carrot” in front of a horse for Conclusion
di For a nonprofit organization to hold a sus-
u it to move forward. Therefore, the PowerTech
t
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Contest organizers provided a free trip to Japan
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og to see a robot contest (sponsored by domestic and thereby fulfilling the missions and ideals of
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hn business enterprises) as the final prize. Also, the organization, a process of strategic planning
Tec officials from the Ministry of Education and and managerial thinking as stringent as that
of National Science Council were invited to be followed by the corporate world is necessary.
al The core of the PowerTech Contest also lies in
n award presenters at the award ceremony, which
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u its ability to fulfill its educational functions and
o was also a great encouragement for the partici-
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e pants. In addition to student awards, teacher purposes. Next follow the conclusions of this
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advisors were also given awards for their leader-
ship and dedication. This was to encourage them
Building a professional operation mindset to
to continue their efforts and to lead another team
boost competitiveness
in future contests.
The organizers of this nationwide contest
successfully formulated and designed a creative
According to the equity theory, fair games
activity that not only appeals to today’s young-
promise chances to win, and the chances to win
sters but also meets their demands for science
sustain the willingness to participate. In order
education. In addition, the organizers have
to ensure the principles of fairness, justice, and
incorporated novelty features in the contest
openness, the PowerTech Contest required the
designed to attract students, and they have
participants to produce their product on site on
reviewed the effectiveness of its activity
the day of competition to avoid similar criticism
implementation throughout the whole process
on science fairs about the possible master-hand
of design, development, and assessment.
hidden behind the scene. For score calculation,
the contest included the creating competition
Shaping a professional image to lure new
contest (60%), the modeling design contest
“customers”
which aims to encourage students to utilize
The PowerTech Contest has focused its
their artistic talents and improve their command
public and media promotion efforts on building
over aesthetic expression (20%), and the teacher
aprofessional image in order to increase its
advisor’s innovation process record journal
name recognition. Also, various new marketing
(20%), to ensure that teachers indeed participat-
approaches (regional integration, total market-
ed in the process. As long as teachers are
ing) were incorporated in order to create posi-
involved in the process, they are sure to gain
tiveand effective word-of-mouth marketing
something; and as long as theyfeel rewarded,
via participating students, so that all the limited
they will be motivated to lead their students
resources can be fullyexploited.
to participate in the contest.
Extending the reachand scope byinvolving
Finally,according to game theory, an inter- relevant institutions
esting game must also be competitive. The In addition to internal management
competition maybe against time, against a rival, strategies, the organizers also strengthened its
or against both at the same time. The PowerTech partnership with external resources. For instance,
Contest not only upholds the principles of fair- the first three contests all collaborated with the
ness and openness, the contest design, including National Museum of Natural Science and the
the speed race, wrestling, and tug-of-war National Science and Technology Museum and
competition between participants’creative used them as bases for service team training and
inventions, also imitates real, live human contest venues. Such cross-institutional partner-
competition so that students can become highly ship and collaboration further ensured an effec-
involved and motivated to make improvements tive use of the limited operating resources of the
to their invention and to enter the competition contest.
again in the future to prove that their improve-
ments indeed work better. Based on the three Since there is still room for improvement in
guiding principles discussed previously, it is terms of general considerations and specific
measures of the contest, the organizers will strive Dr. Jon-Chao Hong is a professor in the
tomake continuous improvements to ensure that Industrial Education Department at the
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technological creation can truly become a part of National Taiwan Normal University.
everyday life and that their countries’economic Th
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competitiveness will be further lifted as a result. Chan-Li Lin is an Assistant Professor in the J
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Department of Visual Communication Design, r
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Acknowledgement a
China University of Technology, Taiwan. l
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The PowerTech contest is mainly sponsored by T
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Ya-Ling Lin is a full-time teacher at Taipei c
National Science Council and Ministry of h
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Country Jhangshu Junior High School, and is o
Education of Taiwan. lo
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currently pursuing her PhD at National Taiwan y
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Normal University. tu
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