Here is an easy activity that could easily end up becoming a career choice! Build a straw bridge.
In Engineering Statics classes, final projects can frequently include group designs of bridges that hold weight. Believe it or not, while your student may not be ready to calculate the forces, he can try his hand at engineering by building a straw bridge.
This activity from the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry begins with understanding which structures are the strongest. Then:
- Draw a sketch of your design.
- Build the design.
- Test your structure.
The student will test his bridge by seeing how many pennies (weight) it can hold before collapsing.
By iterating with different designs, students will see which shapes hold more wight, and understand how to modify the shapes to increase their load capacity.
Perfect for the budding engineer!
Update: This resource is no longer available, so we are linking to an archived version.
Free Resource
- Straw Bridges @ Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Additional Resources
Hands-On Activity
This straw bridge version from TeachEngineering bumps it up a notch.
Science Experiment Notebooking Pages ~ Free
An online find: notebooking pages for students to document observations, experiments, and conclusions for scientific exploration.
