GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE 6-8 DIVISION The 6-8 Division is for children that are either in 6th Grade, 7th Grade, or 8th Grade. The children in this division will have four main events to participate in, and they are Don't Topple the Tower, Inventors Everywhere, Launching Zone, and the Theory Test. Don't Topple the Tower is the structural event in this division. Inventors Everywhere is the dramatic event in this division. Launching Zone is the technical event in this division, and finally, there is the theory test. The dramatic event for this section is also used for the other sections, as well as the structural event. Depending on the division, the difficulty of the events will correspond with the sections. The topics for the dramatic event for this section will be harder than the topics for the other sections. Also, the materials used for the structural event for this section will be harder to build with than the materials given to the other divisions. The materials and topics for each division will be different.
LAUNCHING ZONE The objective of this event is for the children to apply physics and to build a catapult that will launch a lego block as far as it could. In addition to the launching part, the children must address a set of questions that will be given to them as a team. These questions will help the judges see how much research and background knowledge these children know about their catapult and catapults in general. When the children turn in their catapult, there should be a sketch of their first prototype of their catapult, and a sketch of their final prototype of their catapult. The children can build any type of catapult that they want, but the dimensions of the catapult must not exceed the dimensions of 40cm x 40cm x 40cm. So when the team comes to the competition site, there should be already two pre-chosen two members that will represent their team when launching the team's catapult. The goal for the team is to try to launch a lego block further than any other team using their catapult. The things that the team will turn in at the competition site before the launching process begins are the two sketches of their two prototypes. The cost of the materials for the catapult should be under $25. Also, on the back of the sketch for the final prototype, type or write out the materials used for your final catapult, and the price for the materials, and the total price used for the whole final catapult. The scoring will be based off of the distance that the catapult launched the lego block, how the 2 team members worked together, the knowledge that the team knows about catapults in general and their catapult in, the cost of the materials that the team used, and how quick did the team fire their catapults for each of the 3 trials. Having materials that cost less, but are still very strong, is a way that the team can get more points for in one of the categories. By the way, all the teams will have 3 trials to fire their catapults. Remember to make a "holding" area on your catapult, so that the lego block fits on it. IF YOU HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE BRAIN BEE LAST YEAR OR THE YEAR BEFORE, YOUR TEAM MUST HAVE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CATAPULT THIS YEAR WITH DIFFERENT MECHANISMS. IF THE JUDGES FIGURE OUT THAT YOU HAVE USED THE SAME CATAPULT AS THE PREVIOUS YEAR, YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE WHOLE TOURNAMENT.
DON'T TOPPLE THE TOWER The objective of this event is for the children to use their critical thinking skills while building a structure that will be able to hold some amount of weight. The structural event for this division is called Don't Topple the Tower. The purpose of this event is for the kids to build a structure that can be used to support a certain amount of weight. You will be notified of the materials that the children will use to build the structure at the competition site. The grading will be based off of how good the team works together, how much knowledge the team has about what they are building, how much weight the structure can hold, how efficiently was the structure built, and how good was the team using their time. The structure that each team builds must have at least two layers. In other words, there must be a base, some kind of pillar or pole structure, and another base to count as two layers. Look below for a picture of a two layered structure. As you can see in both the pictures, you can see the bottom layer of toothpicks. Then there are several toothpicks that act as pillars or poles. Finally, there's another layer of toothpicks that shows the second layer of the structure. When the team is building the structure, there must be a holding area built into the structure. The holding area is the part of the structure that will be used to place things that will be what we measure the weight by. The holding area can't be the bottom level of the structure!! This is an event that will happen at the tournament site. At the tournament site, the team will have 25 minutes to make the structure (5 minutes of the 25 minutes will include asking scientific questions on how the team is building their structure), and there will be 5 minutes at the end to test the structure out. There will be 1 trial given to the team to test the amount of weight that their structure can support. Like the theory event, this event will also be held in separate rooms. Each team will have its own room.
INVENTORS EVERYWHERE The purpose of this event is for the kids participating to get some experience in the realms of acting and public speaking. This is the dramatic event of this division. The dramatic event for all the divisions is the same. The objective of this event is to test the decision making and problem solving skills of the children while also incorporating acting and science into the event too. The dramatic event is called Inventors Everywhere. In this event, the team will have to create a solution that will solve the problem of something not "existing" in the real world. To put it in simple words, the topic of the skits, is living in a world without something. The team will have 10 minutes to create a skit on the spot after being given their topic. After those 10 minutes, the team will have 5 minutes to legibly write out the plot of their skit, and the title and slogan of their solution. All the solutions should have a slogan and a title. Finally, there will be a maximum of 5 minutes to act the skit out. Some key points of the skit are: creating a title for your solution, getting the skit in under 5 minutes, and writing down the plot of your skit on a piece of paper, which will be then submitted for grading. The topics of the skit can be anything, from living in a world without light bulbs, to living in a world without knives and forks. As mentioned before, there has to be a name and a slogan for the solution you are creating. You CANNOT create a solution which is practically the same thing or concept that doesn't "exist" in the world. Each solution must be made of at least 3 things that exist in the real world. For example, if the topic is living in a world without light bulbs, your solution cannot be a light bulb. It can be sand in a container that contains light-glowing bacteria. This contains three different components that have nothing do with light bulbs. This is the type of solution that the judges are looking for. Your solution must be as creative and as original as possible. The best skits are the ones that are the most creative skits and the ones which have the best and most utilized solution in the skit. The teams will be graded based of off how humorous their skits are, how the team worked together as a whole, how many scientific facts they incorporated into their skit, how creative their skit is presented, how catchy their slogan is, and how good their acting skills are. The skits will take place in the MPR room in front of everybody. The maximum score that each team can get is 60 points. THE THEORY TEST The theory test for this division is comprised of 30 questions and the students will have 40 minutes to complete the whole test. The questions could either be multiple choice or fill in the blank questions. This event is an individual effort and there is no team collaboration in this event. There will be an individual score and a team score for every team and the team member. The maximum individual or team score is 40. Each fill in the blank question is worth 2 points and each multiple choice question is worth 1 point. The individual score is determined by the number of questions that the student gets correctly. The team score is determined by taking the average of the scores of each child on the team. The questions on the theory test are mainly general knowledge questions, but most of them come from the topic given below for this division: