Designing Bridges!

In Science this week, we are considering some of the forces involved in designing a bridge. Yesterday we learned about different kinds of bridges (arch, suspension and truss) and what makes them strong. Today, the students worked in partners to create a variety of paper bridges that could handle the weight of pennies across a 15 cm span. Their goal was to test their bridge to the point of failure so that they could then see where its weak spot was and how its design could be improved (folds,arches,triangles). Tomorrow each group will present their final design to the class using two pieces of paper for the Penny Bridge Showdown!