Gumdrop Dome

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In this engineering activity, learners construct sturdy geodesic structures out of gumdrops and toothpicks. Use this activity to explore engineering principles as well as sturdy shapes and triangles. In the online version of this activity, learners are challenged to build a structure that will support a stack of books. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
Under 5 minutes
Learning Time:
10 to 30 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
$1 - $5 per student
Age Range:
Ages 6 - 11
Resource Type:
Activity
Language:
English, Spanish

Materials List (per student)

  • 25 toothpicks
  • 11 gumdrops

Keywords

Subjects

  • Engineering and Technology
    • Engineering
      • Architectural Engineering
      • Civil Engineering
  • Mathematics
    • Geometry
      • Plane Geometry
      • Solid Geometry
  • Physical Sciences
    • Motion and Forces
      • Gravity
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Conducting Investigations

Informal Categories

  • Food and Cooking
  • Model Building

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • touch

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Foreign language versions of this resource:

This resource is part of:

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

Rights:

  • All rights reserved, WGBH Educational Foundation, 2002

Funding Sources:

  • National Science Foundation, 0229796
  • Corporation for Public Broadcasting
  • The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation
  • PBS