After we completed that activity, the children came to the conclusion that the triangle was the strongest shape. We observed different pictures of bridges and houses under construction to see if they could recognize any shapes.
We viewed the NOVA video on the construction of the bridge at Alton, IL across the Mississippi River to St. Louis. We live on the Mississippi River too, and they were able to observe our bridges. We used the tower activity suggested in the NOVA site. We also played the bridge game. We found more pictures of bridges and discussed the kinds and how they were built. I was chose as NOVA's featured teacher in their magazine. If you are interested in learning how to be a featured teacher, click here.
We decided a good concluding activity would be to build our own bridges. We divided into construction companies and each designed a bridge. We used popsicle sticks, toothpicks, cardboard for the span, spaghetti(it is stronger than you think),string(cable wire), glue guns for welding We assigned prices for each item and they were required to keep track of the supplies and money spent to build their bridge. Our bridges had to meet certain standards.
When I first started reseaching this activity, I couldn't find other children's work for ideas. I decided to build this website to help other teachers that might want to build bridges with their classes. It ended up being a very successful activity. The following bridges are some from more than one view so others might see how we used inexpensive materials to build our bridges.
They were challenged to meet the following criteria:
The bridge had to be attractive.
The bridge had to be strong.
The bridge had to be economically feasible.
The following is a truss bridge.
