Bridges!

The 1-2 kids have just started a Civil Engineering unit on bridges. We have been reading a story that looks at examples of beam, arch and suspension bridges from around the country. Next week, kids will learn about balancing forces that act on a bridge to keep the structure stable.  We will also test some models of bridges to see where and how they fail and what supports are most effective.

Small groups will go through the 5 steps of the Engineering Design Process in designing a bridge: ask, imagine, plan, create, improve. After each group constructs their model bridge, we will test them to see if they are stable enough for a (toy) car to get across and strong enough to support a lot of weight.

Here are the bridge pictures that students have sent in as part of their homework and research for this study.

 London Bridge, England:

Golden Gate Bridge, San Fransisco:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York:

Sagamore Bridge, Massachusetts:

Pegan Cove Bridge, Natick:

Lucky Knot Bridge, Changsha, China:

George Washington Bridge, New York:

Lenny Zakim Bridge, Boston:

South Natick Dam, Natick: