The document provides a recount of a student's experience as part of a Canstruction team building a chariot out of cans for the 2012 Olympics theme. It describes the selection process, initial meetings where fundraising and design ideas were discussed, and the various activities undertaken by the team over 5 weeks such as calculations, model building, and the final construction of the full-scale chariot using over 1,000 cans.

1. OLYMPIC
TECHNOLOGY
KNOX PARK CANSTRUCTION 2012
TEAM PORTFOLIO

2. Travel back to Ancient Greece for the first ever Olympic Games. This was a time long ago when females
weren’t allowed in to even view the games let alone compete. The Ancient Olympic Games were a series of
athletic competitions held for various representatives of city-states of ancient Greece held in honour of Zeus.
The exact origin of the games are shrouded in myth and legend but records indicate they began in 776 BC in
Olympia, Greece.
The winner of each Olympic event was awarded an olive branch and often was received with much honour in
their home town throughout Greece. Over the years, events were added to the original foot races, chariot
racing was one of these events. Chariot racing was the most aristocratic event, for the owner of the horses
received the laurel, not the driver.
Recent scientific findings show that ancient Greeks were technologically more advanced that it was previously
thought and the chariot was one of their technological
achievements. This picture of a chariot wheel that was excavated,
demonstrates the findings.
History:The wheel, some scholars have theorized, was first used to
make pottery and then was adapted for wagons and chariots. The
potter’s wheel was invented in Mesopotamia in 4000 B.C. Some
scholars have speculated that the wheels on carts, were developed
by placing a potter’s wheel on its side. Other say: first there were
sleds, then rollers and finally wheels. Logs and other rollers were
widely used in the ancient world to move heavy objects. It is
believed that 6000-year-old megaliths that weighed many tons were moved by placing them on smooth logs
and pulling them by teams of laborers.
The important elements of a chariot were the wheels, chassis, draught pole and metal fittings. The critical
invention that allowed the construction of light, horse-drawn chariots was the spoked wheel. The body or
basket of the chariot rested directly on the axle (called beam) connecting the two wheels. There was no
suspension, making this an uncomfortable form of transport. At the front and sides of the basket was a
semicircular guard about 1 m high, to give some protection. At the back the basket was open, making it easy
to mount and dismount. There was no seat, and generally only enough room for the driver.
According to Greek mythology the chariot was invented by Erichthonius of Athens to conceal his feet, which
were those of a dragon
The Olympic tradition continues today, and hopefully will continue for as long as humanity exists, bringing with
it new initiatives and development in technological and scientific design and construction. The Olympics are a
wonderful celebration of human physical capability and achievement, with new records set without fail.

3. Knox Park 2012 Canstruction
Team

4. Problems Faced
How will we balance
and support the cans
What do we think we when we build the How big should the
represent Olympic chariot? build be?
technology and if it is a
possible build?
How many cans and
what colour will we
need?
How will we make the
How will we
chariot move?
support the
chariot, taking
into account
weight
distribution and
balance?

5. Concepts Covered
Design and options using a grid for Acircle's area isfo
the pattern on the chariot How to find the area of a circle:
s of
circle is The area of a circle can be found by multiplying
the pi ¶ (which is equal to 3.14) by the square of the
distance radius
from
circle to If a circle has a radius of 4, its area is
the 3.14*4*4=50.24
outside
edg
e.
Experimenting with balance and support
structures
Calculating number of cans and
colours

6. Discussing and learning about weight
and balance on earth and in space.
Experimenting with models to work
out how to move the chariot
Looking at different shapes, how they fit
together and how they can be balanced
safely.
Using our knowledge of circumference
to plan, design and make a pattern for
our wheel taking into account the height of the chariot etc.

7. This is a recount of my experiences of being in the 2012 canstruction team. Before being selected, I
was very eager to be in the team, so when I got in the team I was very excited. Our first meeting was
at Bayswater West Primary School. At there we talked what we were, and how we are going to
design, along with all the other schools. We also looked at how we were going tho present our
portfolio, the maths of our build and our canimation. At the end of the meeting i had a much better
understanding of all this. Our second meeting was at the school and started to talk about organising
the discos, overall from the 3 discos we had earnt $335.after that we donated $300 from both
parent comity and the school council, we then got $750 from a grant.
Week1, we meet Hoon and Leon, the two engineers from Monash University, we then were split up
into groups and started to talk about our designs and looked at the wheels, the axle and how to
make it roll, we then made little models and had a chariot race with them (our team lost).
Week2, we looked at the issues and spent a bit of time looking at them, then we did some maths
calculations on how many cans we needed, then we made a small chariot body and calculated ratios
to it. We calculated that one can would equal two of the cans that we were using.
Week3, we started to build the body of the chariot, but we had a limited number of cans, so we only
built a portion of it, we then did further calculations on how many cans we needed and I also stayed
late to help Leon a bit on the calculations.
Week 4, we started building the base of chariot and spent a bit of time carrying the cans from Mrs.
Shepard’s car, and then spent time talking about what we did over the weeks.
Week 5, we finished building the base of the chariot, we then started finishing of the body and Adam
and Jacob started building the wheels. We also spent time carrying the cans again, overall we had
about 1,100 cans and the chariot was 1.1metres wide and 1.54 in length. One of the main issues was
the weight.
Nelson

8. This recount is about the opportunity I got to experience whilst in the
Canstruction team. I handed in my notice and a few later were announced to
be in the Canstruction team. I was wrapped to be in the team as I had heard
many exciting things about Canstruction.
At the first meeting Mrs Shepard started telling us about what was involved
in Canstruction. A few weeks later we went to BayswaterWestPrimary
School. When we got there
we watched a PowerPoint
presentation about some
previous builds, the theme
which was on the Olympics,
how to make a
Canstruction, the Materials
we could use, and where
and how we would build.
After the PowerPoint
presentation we went off
and tried some of the tasks
that we would have to do whilst in Canstruction. Some of those activities
were Google sketch, making an animation, building with mini cardboard cans
and sketching a real version of our Canstruction. We also decided on what we
would be building. We were going to build a chariot.
A few days later we had another meeting about how we would raise money
to buy the cans as we needed specific cans. We decided to send a letter to
the parents club and to the Knox council for donations and we were also
going to run a school disco for prep 1/2 for 3/4 and one for 5/6. The discos

9. went really well, we raised roughly $300. All up, including the parents club
and the council we raised a tick over $800. The next Friday we went over to
the B.I.R building where we met the two engineers.
The first week we sat down and discussed some of the problems with the
chariot. Some of those were the weight; the chariot was going to weigh over
a tonne so the chariot’s axle would have to be extra strong. We split up into
groups and brainstormed ways to make it stronger. Once we had presented
our ideas we went off into our groups again and made a mini model of the
chariot and at the end we raced them.
On the next Friday we did lots of calculations on how wide, long, and tall the
chariot would be. We also worked out how many cans we would need to
make the chariot.
On the third week some cans arrived so we started building parts of the base.
We also used ratio and scale to work out how many cans we needed.
Towards the end of the session we made a design of the chariot using smaller
cardboard cans.
Week four came around very quickly and we found our self building major
parts of the chariot’s base and body for the building days next week. Noah
has done most of the Google sketch up and Jacob and I have started to draw
a sketch of a chariot.
On the following Friday we started building the actual chariot. First we built
the base. We came strait back from recess and got right back into it and buy
lunch time we have finished the base and our recounts were near finished. At
3:30 we had started building the chariot and the emblem on the front was
going well. On the next Tuesday we continued to build and by about midday
we had the chariot nearly finished. We kept on working and by the end of the
day we the chariot was finished.
I was very happy to have finally built a canstruction. Our final build used
roughly 1,200 cans. It was just a couple of days until we found out if we had
won a prize and if we got to build the chariot again in the city.
By Adam Flanagan

10. This all about what we have been doing since the start of canstruction even
from when I applied for Canstruction. I was so excited to find out
that I was apart of Canstruction. Before we even started to built
it, we had to go to Bayswater West Primary for our first meeting
& to find out what the topic was it’s all about the Olympics so
we decided to do a chariot, we did this because in the ancient
Olympics they used them so this is why we chose it. Then
after we decided and before we started to prepare, we had
organise the team captains which is Adam & I got chosen for the job then
we had to plan the discos. Some of the mistakes we made were the cans were
to heavy so we decided to use a support which solved that problem, instead of
stacking the cans straight up we decided to do it like a pyramid so it wouldn’t
fall over. After all the discos we earnt a total of $355 we also got $300 from the
school council & $300 parent club we also applied for a grant, we got $ 750, so
we got a total of $1,705.
Week 1. We started to design the chariots then we built it out of cardboard
and straws, then we raced them to find the issues also we started to design the
wheel of the chariot.
Week 2. We started finding out how to make the axel stronger & counted we
needed for the chariot & the wheels.
Week 3. We built all of the bass and some of the body, while some of us were
working on a design for the front of the body.
Week4. We built all of the body & the bass in the real life size.
Week 5. We were building the whole thing & put it all together as we go.
By Blake

11. This is a recount of the fantastic experience I had in the 2012 canstruction
team.
It was amazing from the first day I got selected as one of the canstruction
members I was so excited to be a part of it! Even before I
got selected I always wanted to be in the canstruction
team because I had heard many stories about it and
wanted to start to build my own project straight away.
Our first meeting, we had with Mrs Shepherd, was at
Bayswater west Primary School. All the schools met and
discussed about how they were going to build their design. We also got to look
out how to present our portfolio, the maths of the build and our canimation.
At the end of the meeting we had a much better understanding of what
construction is all about. From then on we had five weeks to design and build
our chariot. Our first main project was to get the money for the cans, we
decided to run three discos. We run them well and earned $355, Week1, we
started to talk about our build and the design of the wheels. We drew
diagrams to show our design; also we had a mini chariot race. week2, we
looked at the issues and then did some maths calculations on how many cans
we needed. Then made a small chariot body and did ratios to it. Week3, we
started to build the body but had a limited amount of cans but in the end we
calculated the amount of cans that we needed for the body.week4, we built all
of the body and double checked our calculation ready for the last week.week5,
the build was fantastic and we finished it in time, our chariot looks fantastic
now we just have to hope that the judges think the same way. Learning
intention: My learning intention was completed, the learning intention I set
myself was one to understand the importance of maths and also to learn a bit
about cans and get some more maths knowledge.
By Jacob McCourt

12. The room was inundated by suspense as Mrs Shepherd (our school Canstruction coordinator) read
aloud the names on her list. I was only one of many students who had submitted a form, and we
were all hoping to be selected. A wave of excitement swept through me as my name was called, and
I couldn’t help the smile that spread from ear to ear.
Around a week later, we found ourselves at Bayswater West Primary School, experimenting with
many of the different aspects of Canstruction. This is when we were given our topic – London
Olympics – and first started getting ideas for our design. Naturally, the first thought that came to us
was a Double Decker bus, however, upon realising that many of the other schools had the same
idea, we decided to take a different approach, and build a chariot.
The main purpose of our first meeting was to organise fundraising. In the end, we followed the
traditions of former Knox Park teams and decided to hold discos.
The discos were a greater success than we could have hoped for. We raised around $350 altogether.
I personally was surprised b the number of 5/6s who attended, as usually this number is reasonably
small.
N the following weeks, two engineer students from Monash University cam e out to assist us every
Friday in preparation for the build. With their assistance, we calculated that:
-we would need an inner layer (21 cans) and an outer layer (24 cans) to fully support the body.
-we would need a base board of 1.5m x 2m
-our chariot would be yellow and the base would be orange and red.
-the design on the front of the chariot would be a wreath
-we would decrease the amount of cans on each layer by 1.5 cans
-we could use castors to make the chariot move
It was very exciting when finally, after so many weeks; we could start building our chariot. Although
we encountered many difficulties, even in the building process (like when we couldn’t checker
pattern the bottom of the chariot because of the shape), the chariot turned out a masterpiece.
Overall, our build was a great success.
By Sarah Duncan

13. CANSTUCTION
RECOUNT
When I was selected to be in the Canstuction Team I was over the moon with joy. I was
going to build an object out of CANS (wouldn’t you want to do that.) Our first Canstruction
meeting was at Bayswater West Primary school on the 20th of July. We learnt all about
Canimation and started to brain storm what we should build and Mrs Shepherd (the teacher
who organised for our school to participate in Canstuction) had the idea of building a
chariot, so we went with that.
Soon after that meeting we started to raise money by having some disco dances. There
were three discos in all, one for the Grade preps and Grade 1/2’s as well as another on for
Grade 3/4’s. The final one was for the Grade 5/6’s. It cost $2 dollars for one person. In all we
raised $356 dollars. We also got $300 dollars from the parent’s association as well as
another $300 dollars from the school itself. Then we got a grant from the Knox City Council
for $750 dollars. The total we raised was $1706 dollars to buy cans and plywood.
On the first weekly meeting (in the corner of the BER building,) we met the Engineers Leon
and Hong. We worked on the wheel and the axle to see how we could make the chariot
move and made mini chariots and we had a race to see which axle was the best design.
On the second week we did a worksheet on the body of the chariot to work out how many
cans we needed. We had to buy that many can’s plus a few more for the ones that might
have dints. We also worked out the shape of the chariot. We also built a mini version of
body.
On the third and fourth week we worked on a practice version in different groups and kept
swapping to get an experience with each part.

14. On the days we were building the final copy it was a bit of a rush. Everyone tried to do
everyone’s job at once but then it eventually calmed down and a system was created.
Half the team passed cans to the others who placed them on the actual model. The finish
design was amazing.
The main learning goal for me was to learn a bit more about maths and Engineering because
I want to be an Engineer when I grow up.
By Noah Hickey

15. Canstruction
PREPARATION
To apply for Canstruction, 2012, we needed to write a paragraph or two on why we thought
we would be worthy for the team. We had to have good knowledge of maths, art,
photography, ITC, organisational, teamwork and planning skills. When the teachers had
decided who the team would be, they announced it. The team was (captains) Adam and
Blake and then there was Sarah, Chrissy, Nissa, Ruby, Nelson, Noah, Jacob and I.
The Canstruction team needed money to buy the cans of course, so we decided to run
disco’s. We raised approximately $300 from the discos. The school council also gave the
team a donation of $500.
WEEK 1:
On week one, we met Hoon and Leon, the two engineers from Monash University. The
Canstruction team then split into three groups and designed wheels for the chariot that
would hopefully be strong enough to hold the chariot. Then we designed the body of the
Chariot. After the team had one big meeting, and had decided how the chariot would look
like, we went back to our groups and built a chariot. Once we had finished building the
chariots, we tested how much weight they could hold, and then we had a race!
WEEK 2:
On week two we worked out what were the issues with the chariots we had built in week 1.
ISSUES
Wheels were very wobbly
Probably wouldn’t hold weight of cans
Very untidy
Wouldn’t balance
After we had worked out what wrong with our chariots, we did measurements of ourselves
and of the real life-size chariot. Then we did some maths calculations and roughly worked
out how many cans we would need to build our chariot. We found out that we would
roughly need 1,200 cans. Then we drew up roughly what our chariot would look like.

16. WEEK 3:
We had a limited amount of cans so we worked out the base of the Chariot. The
Canstruction team then worked out that the support of the chariot would need to be exactly
427 cans. The team then built bits of the base and decided that the colours of the Chariot
would need to be red and yellow and black for the picture on the front. The picture on the
front would be a Greek man from a medal.
WEEK 4:
On week 4 the team worked out the man would approximately be 39 cans. We also built
the support of the life-size model and the body of the chariot without the picture on the
front. The support will be red and the body yellow.
Week 5:
On week 5, the Canstruction team started their real build. First, we started with the support.
We looked back over our measurements and started covering the base. Unfortunately, our
engineers couldn’t make the start of our build, but they came later. After we had finished
covering the base and building the three layers of support, Mrs. Shepherd that we would
change the design of a man to a wreath. We experimented on the wreath and finally we
came up with design that we all agreed on. Then Hoon and Leon came and then we started
to build the wreath and body of the chariot. We nearly finished, but we ran out of cans, so
we decided that we would finish the build on Tuesday.
Week 6:
We finished the build and were very excited! Thank you to Hoon, Leon and Mrs. Shepherd,
for all their hard work.
By Meg Anderson

17. byNissaHorat

18. Canstruction
Canstruction is about building a model out of cans. To be chosen to do
Canstruction you write down what skills you would be good at to help in Canstruction. This year we
have decided to build a chariot as the theme is the Olympics. We also planned to try making it move.
Before week 1 we went to Bays Water West primary school and had a meeting to help us
understand what Canstruction is about. We then had a look around to see what skills we would need
to help build our model. The team was Me, Meg, Chrissy, Nissa, Adam, Sarah, Jacob, Nelson, Blake
and Noah.
To raise money for Canstruction we held a disco for prep’s to 2’s, 3’s to 4’s and 5’s to 6’s. We raised
around $350 from the discos. We also got extra money from the School council ($300), the Knox
council ($750) and the Parents’ Association ($300). We raised $1700 so we had enough money to
buy plenty of cans.
We have two engineers called Hoon and Leon. They will help us to build and understand how many
cans we will need for the chariot. The two are a great help for everyone as we use our skills and
knowledge to work together.
Week 1
Starting week 1 we first looked at the wheels. We built mini models and had races to see which
chariot could hold weight on top of it and cross the finish line without the weight on it falling off. We
then looked at what problems we had and what could fix it.
Our main problem was the wheels so we focused on that. They were too wobbly when we were
building the mini models. We figured out that the wheels needed more support, but too much
weight wouldn’t help, as the axle would snap so we had to careful of the number of cans we would
put on it. We figured out the diameter of the wheel is 98cm.
Week 2
This week we focused on the body. We needed about 700 cans. We also built mini model to see
what we would need to support the body because if it didn’t have any support it wouldn’t be stable
as well as the cans wouldn’t hold together and would fall over.
Week 3
This week we studied the support. The support is located under the base and body to of coarse, help
support them. It is made of cans so when trying to move the chariot the body and base won’t be too
heavy and will have the ability to move. The dimensions of the support are 1.1m by 0.51m. We also
looked at the base. The base is 2m by 1.1m. The base is under the body and is joined to it. The base
is built with cans with a total number of 104 by 2 cans of carrots

19. Week 4
This week we continued with the support and started building it. It needed around 180 cans of
tomatoes. We also looked at the design of what the chariot will have on it.
Body = yellow
Wheels = black
Support = black
Moving Platform = red
The Final Stage
This week we finally finished building the chariot. It is amazing what we have achieved. Everyone
was happy with the results. We tried our best and it was great fun. The chariot looked spectacular
and looked like it was life size and just like the real thing.
By Ruby
Selection

20. To apply for Canstruction, we needed to write a letter describing how we wanted and thought that
Canstruction would benefit our learning. We had to have skills involving maths, design, photography,
ICT, organisation, teamwork and preparation skills. Our Canstruction team concludes of ten
students. They were Blake, Adam (the captains), Meg, Nissa, Ruby, Sarah, Noah, Jacob and me. We
have to engineers called Hoon and Leon. Our teacher in charge was Mrs Shepherd. The Canstruction
team required money. Together, the Canstruction team put together three discos, to buy money for
cans, for every student at the school. We raised approximately $300 from the discos. The Parents
Association and School Council donated $600 combined. We also got a $750 grant from the Knox
Council.
Week 1
On week one, we met Hoon and Leon; the two engineers form Monash University. We split up into
three groups concluding group 1 Nissa, Adam and me, group 2 Meg, Noah and Ruby and Group 3
Blake, Nelson and Sarah. We built our mini chariot models. We had a race to see who won, which
also helped us realise and find some issues. Group 1, consisting me, won.
Week 2
On week two, we looked at the issues from last week and found ways to improve them. The issues
were:
Wheels were wobbly
Wouldn’t hold weight of cans
Very untidy
Wouldn’t balance
After we had found out what was wrong with our chariots, we measured ourselves and found out
the measurements of the life-size chariot body. We did some maths to work out how many cans
were needed. We discovered that we needed roughly 1,200 cans for the whole chariot. We then
built mini bodies of the chariot using cardboard cans.
Week 3
On week three, we built parts of the base using life-size cans. The team then worked out how many
cans we would need for the support. We needed exactly 427 cans. We then decided the colours of
the chariot. They were orange for the track, red for the support, yellow for the body, green for the
olive wreath and gold for the wheels.
Week 4
On week four, we built a life-size base, track, support and body. The front of the track was 4x9, the
support was 4x15x3 floors and the back was 10x9.
Week 5

21. Today was one of the real build day. Firstly, we built the support, which took a while to get it
straight, then we built the track around it. Next, we built a practise of the body and the olive wreath
pattern to see how it looked. We then decided that it looked good and built the real thing. While we
were doing that, Jacob and Adam built the wheels. We then assembled it, but we weren’t finished.
Final Week
This week we had finished our chariot. It looked amazing! All of the cans blended together really
well. The dimensions of the support were 1.1mx0.51m. The dimensions of the base were 2mx1.1m.
We had used approximately 1,100 cans altogether. The 2012 Canstruction team was really proud of
all the effort that we had put in.
By ChrissyFloros