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Activity

Straw Bridges

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet
This Straw Bridges activity also includes:

Pairs work as engineering teams to design and build model bridges from drinking straws and tape. In this third segment in a series of 10, teams compete in an attempt to build the strongest bridge. To help with the design, the groups experiment with geometric shapes to determine which would be the strongest.

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Concepts
bridge design, design, engineering design, constraints, compression, bridges, scale models, model building, geometric shapes, triangles, technology resources
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Instructional Ideas
  • Require teams to support their designs with research
  • If time allows, let the groups redesign their bridges based upon their performance 
Classroom Considerations
  • Build a wooden support or use two desks to hold the bridges
  • The third in a series of 10 resources
Pros
  • The resource has instructions on how to build a wooden support out of scrap 2 x 4s
  • The activity scaling sections gives suggestions for lower and higher grades
Cons
  • None