Make a bridge
A wild storm has left a local community stranded. Build a self-supporting bridge to transport goods, vehicles and people across the river safely.
Subjects
STEAM, Science, Design and Technologies
Objectives
Preparation
Materials
Makedo Invent Kit
Upcycled cardboard
Resource: Design Thinking Process
Activity
The STEAM Challenge
Pose the following scenario:
A local community needs your help!
A wild storm has destroyed the only bridge into their town. The river is very deep, and the current is strong, so there is no hope of swimming across. The river is also far too wide for just one piece of material to reach from one side to the other, and the townspeople need to transfer many things across safely, some of which are very heavy.
Armed only with your trusty Makedo tools and upcycled cardboard, your job is to design a structure to bridge the gap.
Your Goal
Use Makedo tools and connectors with upcycled cardboard to build a bridge that can span a gap of 1 meter (3 feet) or more.
Your Role
You are the bridge engineers trying to get many things safely across a dangerous river crossing.
Your Audience
The bridge should be designed for goods, vehicles, and people.
The Scenario
An isolated community is cut off from others and needs help.
The Product
A prototype of a self-supporting bridge made with Makedo tools, connectors and upcycled cardboard.
Reflection
Journal Prompts
What aspects of your design are you most pleased with?
Were there similarities between the designs that were most effective? What were they?
What was difficult about this challenge? Did anything surprise you?
What would you do to improve your design if you embarked on this challenge again?
Extension
Take It Further
Build a bridge that can hold more weight than any other design.
Design this bridge to be taken apart and reassembled for use in another emergency.
Design a bridge that builds itself or a mechanism that makes it easy to assemble.