December 16, 2016
Today Wade Thomas students learned about engineering! At first, we mentioned the process of design: identifying the problem, researching possible solutions, picking the best and building the prototype, testing the prototype and repeating the steps to improve the design. Then we introduced two hands-on stations: building bridges and building towers. At the bridges station, kids were given spaghetti, strings, tape, rubber bands and marshmallows and were instructed to build a strong bridge to hold the weight of a Rubik’s cube. To learn more about the challenge, read the James Dyson foundation’s printout. At the towers station, children competed to build the tallest tower with Kiva blocks and with simple paper cups. Hopefully this Science Friday built a strong foundation for future engineers!
Vocabulary: Load, Structure, Civil Engineer, Truss, Tension (pulled apart), Compression (squashed), Beam Bridge, Truss Bridge, Suspension Bridge, Cable-Stayed Bridge, Arch Bridge
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