Building Bridges

This activity was a few weeks ago, but I told the class I would add some pictures to the blog from it. They had a great time!

The first model was a bridge built with stir sticks (tiny straws). They had to build it across a space of 10 inches, and they had to make it wide enough to hold a 9 oz. cup. After they built the bridge, they had to test how many toy dinosaurs it would hold. They made predictions first and then tested it.

After the first bridge fell, they had to construct a 2nd bridge made from craft sticks (popsicle sticks). They all guessed this bridge would hold more, but one group built their straw one so well that it actually held more than their craft sticks. They were very surprised at how well the bridges held. It was a fun activity to reinforce what we had read about the design process.

1. Identify the problem
2. Do research
3. Develop possible solutions
4. Choose one solution
5. Design and construct a prototype
6. Test the prototype
7. Communicate results
8. Evaluate and redesign

Here are some pictures from our experiment.

I think it's safe to say they had a great time. I hope they also took some learning away from it as well!