Apollo High School TSA

Architectural Model
TSA members or chapters entering the Architectural Model event are required to submit a floor plan and a three- dimensional model of a structure as epicted by the floor plan. This event is not limited to residential structures. An annual design problem will determine the type of Architectural Model for the conference year.

Computer-Aided Drafting/Design (CADD)
To provide students with an opportunity to compete in the emerging area of CADD technology.

Computer Construction and Application
TSA participants in the Computer Construction and Application event are required to complete a written examination covering basic computer literacy, construct a personal computer from the component level, and complete an assigned software application task. The event will demonstrate the technology and principles of computer and application literacy.

Chapter Team
TSA chapters in the Chapter Team event are required to perform an opening and closing ceremony, including disposition of three (3) items of business within a specified time period.

Construction Systems
TSA teams (two members per team) entering the construction event will be given a written test. Each finalist team will apply practical construction practices representative of the construction industry in an activity that will be designated and carried out on-site and that will vary annually.

Cyberspace Pursuit
TSA chapters in the Cyberspace Pursuit event are required to create and launch a HTML (hyper text markup language) World Wide Web (WWW) site that features the school's Technology Education program. The Cyberspace Pursuit event provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate their ability to design and publish WWW information that highlights: 1) the school's technology education program, 2) the school's TSA Chapter, and 3) the TSA Chapter's solution to a technology design brief.

Desktop Publishing
Participants (one per state) develop a portfolio of materials during the current school year. The portfolio includes a tri-fold pamphlet, a three-column newsletter, and a poster. All participants then work to solve an on-site problem that demonstrates their abilities to use the computer to design, edit, and print materials for publication.

Electronic Systems
TSA participants (one per chapter) in the Electronic Systems event are required to design and build a product to solve an identified problem. The product is evaluated on complexity, ingenuity, quality of the schematic, and the written description of the product. The Electronic Systems problem for the 1999 and 2000 National TSA conferences is to design an electronic device that serves as a polygraph (lie detector). The device will give feedback to the operator on the extent of change to the subjects skin resistance.

Engineering Graphic Analysis
TSA participants in the Engineering Graphic Analysis curricular event must demonstrate their ability to analyze engineering graphic specifications by completing an engineering graphic analysis test. Finalists will also demonstrate their ability to solve an on-site engineering graphic problem using standard drafting techniques.

Extemporaneous Speech
TSA participants in Extemporaneous Speech are required to give a three to five-minute speech 15 minutes after having drawn a card on which a topic for their speech is written.

Film Technology
Participants develop a film/video that focuses on a subject of their choice from one or more of the following areas: the arts, social studies, science, or the technology. Possible subjects include but are not limited to social study documentaries, nature films, advertisements, comedies, or dramas. Sound may accompany the film/video.

Flight Endurance (formerly Aerospace Technology)
Participants (two per chapter) are to explore flight with rubber powered model aircraft.

Manufacturing Prototype
TSA participants in the Manufacturing Prototype event are required to manufacture a prototype of a product and provide a description of how the product could be manufactured in a state-of-the art American industry.
National Engineering Design Challenge (high school) TSA chapters are encouraged to participate in the National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC), a hands-on high school program in which teams of students design, build and demonstrate working solutions to a defined problem (new problem each year). NEDC challenges students to address non-routine, societal issues by applying technology, mathematics and science concepts to a real-world problem.

Prepared Presentation
TSA participants in Prepared Speech are required to deliver an oral presentation enhanced by audio and/or visual means. The topic is always the same as the theme for the current year's national conference.

Promotional Communications
TSA participants in the Promotional Communications event are to prepare a video product which promotes TSA.

Promotional Graphic Design
TSA participants in Graphic Design are required to develop and present in a graphic manner a design which depicts the theme for TSA's next National Conference.

Radio Controlled Transportation
TSA participants (one team of two members) design, fabricate, test, and demonstrate the use of a radio controlled vehicle that collects and distributes 3" x 5" note cards during a five (5) minute demonstration.

Research & Design
TSA participants in the Research and Design event are required to design, draw, and build a CO2-powered vehicle. Design, speed, quality of work, and a drawing of the vehicle are the primary elements evaluated.

Scientific and Technical Visualization (SciVis)
Participants in SciVis develop visualization focusing on a subject or topic from one one or more of the following areas: technology, engineering, science, mathematics, social studies, or the arts.

Structural Engineering
TSA teams entering the Structural Engineering event will construct a test model of the selected structure to be destructively tested to determine design efficiency.

System Control Technology
Participants are given a problem, typically one in an industrial setting, that requires them to develop a computer-controlled model-solution on site. Working as teams, they analyze the problem, build a computer-controlled mechanical model, program the model, explain the features of their solution, and leave instructions for evaluators to operate the device.

Technical Research and Report Writing
TSA participants in Technical Research and Report Writing are required to research an announced technological area then, utilizing the knowledge and resources gained from this research, must write a comprehensive report on a selection of three (3) related subtopics designated on site.

Technology Bowl
TSA chapters entering the Technology Bowl are required to complete a written objective examination to qualify for the oral question/response, head-to-head team competition phase of the event.

Technology Challenge
TSA participants (one team of two members per chapter) are challenged to design, fabricate, and demonstrate the application and control of mechanical, fluid, and electrical power by moving a designated load from a storage container to a use container (target) through a barrier by means of an arm operated by remote controls. Teams are asked to move the greatest mass of nails as possible in ninety (90) seconds from the storage site to the target through the opening in the barrier by controlling the arm. Evaluation is based upon the greatest delivered load, less the load spilled during transportation.

Technology Problem Solving
TSA teams (two members per team) entering the technology problem solving event are required to use a team approach to provide an adequate solution to a given problem within a specified and limited time frame. Design, function, cooperative teamwork, and originality are the primary elements evaluated.

Technological Systems
TSA participants in the Technological Systems Problem event are required to enter a model, and documentation of their team's solution to a stated problem pertaining to a given technological system (communication, transportation, construction, manufacturing, etc.). Finalists will demonstrate their team's approach in solving the technological problem within a specified and limited time frame.

Transportation Modeling (Pilot)
Using the materials allowed by the rules and following required specifications, participants (one per chapter) design and produce a CO2- powered scale model of a vehicle that fits the annual design problem and that takes appearance and performance into consideration. The problem for 1999 is to design a new sports coupe for the model year 2000. The problem for 2000 is to modernize a family sedan from the past. (The vehicle must retain enough of the original characteristics to be recognizable.)

**All information about Competitions is from: http://www.kentuckytsa.org **

Page Modified and Updated by Bradley Mattingly