The two 5/6 Classes are moving onto a new unit of work in Technology this term, looking at Bridges. The aim will be to design and build a wooden structure that will span a set gap and have moving parts, however the introduction was a lot less sophisticated!
The challenge was to use one sheet of card, a few sheets of newspaper, about 10 sheets of scrap paper and 1m of tape to build a structure that would span a gap of 20cm and take as much mass as possible, before collapsing. The pupils worked in groups of three and four and were certainly very creative. After one hour, the bridges had to be shown to each other and tested… to destruction!
Each bridge was placed over the gap and weights were added one at a time and in sizes chosen by the groups. The mass recorded was the last successful total before the bridge collapsed (which caused great hilarity!). There were some very good attempts, with the winning bridges holding in excess of 6Kg.
Here are a few photographs of some of the bridges and also the pupils’ reactions as the weights were added. The latter being slightly more amusing at times!