Investigation – Bridges: What Holds Weight?

Investigation – Bridges: What Holds Weight?

STEM

Engineering

Cross-cutting Concepts

Levels of Thinking

Resources are categorized by whether they target foundational levels of thinking or levels of thinking that extend past foundational levels (expanding).

Suggested AdaptationS

Check out our guide to adaptations. Adapt for environment, materials, instruction.

General Guide to Adaptations

Description

Expand on the initial bridge building by adding the constraint of the bridge needing to hold more weight:

“The animals want to cross the river for another party. But there are even more animals this time. It will take too long if they all cross one at time. Can we make a bridge that is wide enough and strong enough to hold more than one animal at a time?”

Interactive Lesson

Materials

  • Pre-rip tape as needed.
  • Pre-tape straws together as needed.

Instruction

  • Model creating a beam bridge out of straws.
  • Build the supports for the bridge and encourage children to add the straws as the beam to span the two supports.

STEM Ideas/Words

Investigation

STEMIE Learning Trajectories