DRINKING straws, balsawood and string were a few of the materials. Moving loads, building bridges and producing power were the challenges.
Budding engineers and scientists from Footscray City College were among 750 years 9 and 10 students from across Melbourne competing in Victoria University's annual Science and Engineering Challenge last week.
The competition began 10 years ago as an idea from the University of Newcastle to make science careers more appealing to high school students.
VU hosted a three-day regional event this year.
Last year, more than 22,000 students from more than 600 schools took part.
Senior lecturer Ian Campbell, of VU's school of engineering and science, said students competed against rival schools to solve challenging, real-life problems using fundamental maths and science principles.
Some of the activities included building scale-model bridges from balsawood and making a hovercraft from polystyrene trays, plastic sheets and computer cooling fans.
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