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Canine House of Cards
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This simple construction activity teaches the importance of architectural structure. Learners build and test designs for a paper "doghouse" strong enough to hold the weight of a jumbo dog biscuit.
What Gives?
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In this activity, learners design, build and test a model suspension bridge for sturdiness and strength.
Spaghetti Bridge
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Play with your food while learning about engineering! Build a spaghetti bridge, then test its strength by piling on the marshmallows, raw spaghetti, raw linguine and coins.
Exploring Structures
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This event guide features three related explorations in which learners investigate the following science concepts: how you design and build a structure helps determine how strong it will be; different
Build a Big Wheel
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In this activity, learners explore how engineers have developed big wheels or Ferris wheels.
As Straight as a Pole
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In this engineering activity (page 3 of PDF), young learners investigate how a pole can be made stable by “planting” its base in the ground or adding supports to the base.
Designing a Wall
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In this engineering activity (page 5 of PDF), young learners investigate how materials and design contribute to the strength of a structure, particularly walls.
Rooftop Gardens
How does a green roof, or roof covered by plants, affect the temperature of the inside and outside of a building? Learners design and build houses to find out the answer.
Construction Technologies: Construct the Strongest Bridge
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Learners work in pairs to create three simple types of bridges, a beam bridge, an arch bridge, and a suspension bridge.
Build A Treetop Walkway
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Build and test a scale model of a rainforest canopy walkway.
File Card Bridges
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With two stacks of books and a few rolls of pennies, build two kinds of bridges--a beam span and an arch span--and see how much weight each of them can hold.
Paper Bridges
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In this activity, learners build bridges using paper and explore how much weight each bridge design can support.
Straws and Pins
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In this activity, learners build bridges and cantilevers in a series of "building out" challenges with straws and pins.
Kinetic Sculpture
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In this design challenge activity, learners build a tower that’s at least 12 inches high with two or more parts that move (spin, sway, or flap) in the wind.
Clay Beams and Columns
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In this activity, learners make or use pre-made clay beams to scale and proportion. Specifically, they discover that when you scale up proportionally (i.e.
Build a Bridge
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In this activity, learners use recycled materials to build a bridge that holds as many potatoes as possible. They investigate weight, height, strength, and measurement as they seek design solutions.
Garden Poles
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In this activity, learners build large-scale structures and cantilevers in a series of "building out" challenges with garden poles and tape.
Tall Tower Challenge
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In this activity, learners explore the design of tall structures such as skyscrapers and telecommunication towers.
Thrill Ride
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In this activity, learners will build a roller coaster for a marble to run on using everyday household materials such as paper towel or toilet paper rolls, cups, boxes, books, buckets, chairs, etc.
High Rise
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In this design challenge activity, learners build a tower that can support a tennis ball at least 18 inches off the ground while withstanding the wind from a fan.