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Building Structures (ES)

Students choose from a variety of materials and shapes to discover which shapes will provide for the strongest structures. Teachers may wish to set certain criteria and constraints, such as structures must be at least 2 inches tall or students can only use 20 connecting pieces.

objectives

• Evaluate which materials work best to support weight when building a structure
• Design a structure to hold as much weight as possible

Topic(s)

Engineering

type

Elementary school lesson

3-4

Grade(s): 

time needed

Three 30-minutes periods

author

Jeni Peterson

national next gen standards

• 3-ET1-2 & 3: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem

north dakota standards

• 4-ET1-3 Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

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