Lesson 2: Guided Research on Bridge Design Failures

Unit: Bridges

References:

Learning objectives:

     - Students will form ideas about structural integrity.

     - Students will become familiar with different types of bridge design.

     - Students will gain a qualitative understanding of how bridges can have catastrophic weaknesses.

Key Questions, Concepts, or Themes:

      - What types of bridge designs have been tried?

 - What has caused the failure of bridges in the past?

 - What are characteristics of a good bridge design? 

Stage 1:

     Filter resources on catastrophic bridge failures from the past and distribute them to students.

Stage 2:

     Students will divide research resources among themselves, and summarize the significant findings of their resource.

Stage 3:

      Students will report their conclusions to the other members of the group (Engineering Meeting).  The students should draw conclusions about recurring themes and understand the critical points of a good bridge design.  This information will be used in the following days lesson.  

*** Engineer B is responsible for recording the teams conclusions on the Group Summary Sheet.****

Homework:

Assessments: (attach/link copies)

__ Group assessment

__ Observation of process/student work

__ Self-assessment by student

__ Teacher generated assignment

__ Written project

__ Test/Quiz

 X Other: Group summary page