Students in Ms. Iafrate, Ms. Perry and Mrs. Bradshaw's classes enjoyed a half day experimenting with strong and stable structures. Here is a brief overview of the hands on activities the children had the opportunity to experience.
Under Construction - students developed a supporting framework (a structure), explored the importance of shape and design, strength and stability.
Bridges - students used a variety of different materials to test a load.
Arches, Barrel Vaults and Domes - students were introduced to these ancient structural elements, and had the chance to build their own. They learned what a "buttress" was used for.
Foundations - students investigated a variety of foundations that are used to keep a structure stable (Rock, Clay and Sand).
Tension and Compression - Tension and compression are key forces explaining how structures stay up and why they fall down. Students learned that tension is a pulling force and compression is a pushing force.
Our culminating task at the end of the session was to build a bridge using all that newspaper. Each group worked together to build a part of the bridge that would eventually hold a load of 40+ books! The children were amazed!
Thank-you to all parent volunteers and our grade 7 helpers!
