Bridge+Project

BRIDGE PROJECT Area of Interaction: Human Ingenuity === Significant Concepts: Basic design concepts. === === Unit Question: How is the Design Cycle important to the successful outcome of a project? ===

INVESTIGATE: (Day 1) Spend one day playing the following games: [|Game 1:] Click "Level 1" to begin

[|Game 2:] Click "Start" to begin

Design Brief: (Day 2) Requirements: Your bridge should cross over an index card. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Your bridge should be 5 - 6 inches high. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Your bridge should 4 - 5 inches wide. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Your bridge should hold at least 100 pounds. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">You get one handful of popsicle sticks. <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Questions: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">1. What is the strongest type of bridge? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">A truss bridge might be the strongest type of bridge, depending on the situation of course, because it's built of rigid materials and doesn't rely on cables, and it has braces made of triangles. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">2. What bridge would work best for me? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">I can't make a suspension or cable-stayed bridge because I can only use popsicle sticks. An arch bridge would also be difficult. However, a beam bridge or a truss bridge would both be possible. I think a truss bridge would work best because it has a lot of supports that I can make with popsicle sticks. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">3. What geometric shape is the strongest structure? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">The triangle is the strongest geometric structure, because with any 3 given lengths that make a triangle, there can only be made one triangle (this means that the sides can't lean into another shape without breaking). <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">4. Other questions and answers you may have: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Should I make a deck truss or a through truss? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">How thick should I make each section of the bridge (how many popsicle sticks)? <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Research Sites to Help You Answer the Questions Above: [|How Stuff Works:] [|Instructables:] [|Student Ideas:] [|Truss Bridge:] [|Building a Bridge:] [|eHow:]

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">PLAN: (1/2 Day) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">5. Use a blank piece of paper to draw a rough draft of your bridge. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">6. On your paper include why you think this bridge will hold the most weight.

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">CREATE: (4 DAYS) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">7. Did you use all of the glue, popsicle sticks and other materials appropriately? Yes, we did. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">8. Did you work with your group members appropriately? Yes, we did.

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">EVALUATION: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">9. Did you research bridge types? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Yes, I researched 4 different types of bridges. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">10. Did your bridge hold 100 pounds? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Yes, it did. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">11. How much weight did your bridge hold? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">It held 171 pounds. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">12. What would you do differently next time? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Next time, I would make the bridge rely less on a big thick plank and just do a big network of triangles; perhaps I would also double stack each beam. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">13. Reflect on all the steps of the Design Cycle. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">What did you do well? What do you need to improve? (Notice that there are two questions, answer both of them!) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Investigate: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">1. I researched pretty thoroughly and considered different designs. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">2. I could have looked at more specific examples of truss bridges built with popsicle sticks to see how others did it. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Plan: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">1. I brainstormed a lot of possible designs. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">2. I should have specified measurements on my design drawing. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Create: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">1. We constructed the bridge to make it really strong and adjusted as we went if we had a new idea. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">2. We should have cut the segments more carefully and planned a little better so that none of the bridge looked off-center or messed up and so we didn't have to use so much glue to fill holes. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Evaluate: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">1. I looked at our design process and thought of some things I could change to make it better. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">2. Maybe I could have been more specific. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">14. Were you responsible and safe with all your materials? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Yes, I was. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">15. Did you follow all my rules in the classroom? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Yes, I did. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">16. Did you meet all the requirements for this assignment? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Yes. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">17. How is the Design Cycle important to the successful outcome of a project? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">It helps you to plan better and be more prepared to carry out the project, and if something goes wrong, it helps you to troubleshoot and redesign until you have a design that will work. It also helps you to improve for the next time you do a project.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">18. What grade do you deserve on this unit? (1 - 6) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">I think I deserve a 6.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">How you will be Graded: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Investigate = 10 points <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Plan = 10 points <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Create = 20 points <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Evaluate = 15 points <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Completing all of the requirements = 40 points <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">5 points for being nice

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 20.8px;">Total = 100 points