NHICC: New Hampshire's Incredible Creativity Connection is NH-DI

New Hampshire Destination ImagiNation at
D2K.3 Global Finals 2003
May 21-24, 2003, Knoxville Tennessee

Matthew Thornton School, Londonderry
Change in DIrection
Team NH Information

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"The DI Dudes" are a group of creative problem solvers in the 5th grade at Matthew Thornton Elementary School in Londonderry NH. This will be our second year that we have the opportunity to go to Globals. The team members are Justin, Robbie Feinberg, Benjie Chiampa, Mickey Jiang, Andy Lee, Benjamin Atkinson and Mat Tager. The DI Dudes are coached by Bill O'Connor and Steve Lee.

Our team has a mix of DI experience, three team members have been together for four years, two have been on the team for two years and we have one member in his rookie year. We have a great mix of talents on our team. All the guys on our team love building things and are really good problem solvers and we all love science and math. In addition we have lots of varied talents that each of our teammates bring to the solution. We have musicians, thespians, artists, athletes, boy scouts, and a ballet dancer.

We chose to do "Change in Direction" this year because we love doing the technical challenges. A lot of the fun that we have doing DI is taking apart stuff and seeing what we can build with the parts. So this challenge sounded perfect for us since we needed to make two different technical devices from the same set of parts.

In this challenge we needed to make two technical devices from the same set of parts, and we had to create a transport system to move the set of parts from one place to another. Our two technical devices are a "Net Launcher" and an "Underwater Exploration Vehicle". The devices are made from an old wire spool, PVC pipes and connectors, bungee cords, a bicycle pump, training wheels, springs, plywood, a large plastic tube, wood clamps, a foam "cork" and a piece of netting.

Our transport system is a Hovercraft. We made it out of an old snow tube, a piece of plywood, two leaf blowers, duct tape and some foam and Christmas lights for decoration. One of the leaf blowers is used to provide lift for the hovercraft and the other is used as a propulsion system. The Theme of our solution is "The Scuba Adventure". It is the story of three explorers who are in search of fame and fortune by trying to find the lost city of Atlantis. Our three Explorers are Mr. Hortis the leader and the logical one of the group, played by Robbie; Banana Bone, the engineer and computer whiz, played by Andy; and Camera Boy, the photographer an all around goofball. "and Camera Boy, the photographer and all around goofball, played by Benjie.

Our story starts with the explorers starting their underwater journey in search of Atlantis when their vehicle runs into an underwater tower. The vehicle has a battering ram made from a bicycle pump that has been rigged to knock over the tower. After the tower is knocked down the explorers discover a stranger who was locked-up in the tower. It turns out that the stranger is the True King of Atlantis, played by Mat, and an Evil Fake King, played by Benjamin has locked him in the tower. Our explorers agree to help him regain his throne if he shows them the way to Atlantis. The Real King shows the explorers where they can get a Hovercraft since their underwater vehicle was destroyed and fell apart in several pieces when it crashed into the tower. The Hovercraft transports all the pieces of the vehicle to Atlantis while our explorers formulate a plan to capture the Fake King. Luckily BananaBone has enlisted the help of two Atlantian Engineers (played by Justin and Mickey) to use the vehicle pieces to build a "Net Launcher". The Net launcher is made from a larger plastic tube and is corked at one end with a foam rubber stopper; the net is attached to the cork. After our explorers lure the Fake King in front of the device, the bicycle pump is used to pressurize the tube and ultimately pop the cork and send the net flying to capture the Fake King. After taking the Fake King to jail, our explorers and their newfound friends go off to enjoy double onion burgers in Atlantis.

We also had to build a transport system, and we thought that would be fun too. We work together as a team really well, and we especially like practicing instant challenges and doing improv activities.

Our most memorable moments this year were when we finished the different pieces of our problem. Like the first time we took our hovercraft to the school for a practice and found out it really worked! We had no way of controlling where it went as it raced back and forth across the floor, but it worked! And we were really excited after weeks of trying when for the first time our net-launcher actually launched the net! We also had a great time hanging around at our TM's house on weekends eating donuts and pizza and drinking soda while we took stuff apart and ran through rolls and rolls of duct tape!

"The coolest thing about going to Globals is the plane ride, meeting of new people and not the dorms!" according to team member Andy. After my second year of doing this, I am more convinced than ever that this program should last forever and even if it is educational, it is a lot more fun than you would expect.

Ahhh… pizza, duct tape, and taking stuff apart …. what more can a kid ask for!

We'll keep up with this team at DI Globals, so keep checking here!

 

 

 

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