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Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, Engineering Design (Lewis) (1st-2nd)

Posted by on Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in blog, SAVY.

It was a fun day in Engineering Design! In literacy time, we read How Emily Saved the Bridge. In this historical story, Emily Warren Roebling faced many challenges when she was forced to be the lead engineer on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge when her father-in-law died and her husband became ill. She loved math and science, which helped her in studying and designing the components of the bridge. We compared Emily to Rosie and Javier, exploring how they used the engineering design process and how their stories were different. 

In our Science Exploration time today, we looked at balance. We specifically experimented with static equilibrium. We learned that static means ‘still.’ We used water bottles attached to the sides of a coat hanger. We showed that the bottles could still have static equilibrium, even when the hanger is tilted. We also looked at how forces interact to create balance. 

In the afternoon, we learned about the different directions forces push to make a bridge sturdy and stable. We acted these out with partners and worked together to create the forces and shapes. We connected the forces to Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. 

Our groups used their knowledge to build 3 types of bridges with only a couple of wooden blocks and index cards. The Deep Beam bridge and the Arch bridge both held 16 weights when we tested them. The Beam bridge only held 12 weights. We discussed how the forces were impacted by the weights and ways we could improve our designs. 

We finished up our day with STEAM Stations and drawing our favorite bridge designs. Tomorrow, we will discuss the criteria and constraints for their final bridge project and begin our designs.  

We are excited for tomorrow! 

Mrs. Lewis and Ms. Sharon