Alberta Grade 3 Science - Bridge Building

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This project is tailored for grade 3 science curriculum in Alberta province. Many classrooms engage students in building bridges, comparing materials, strengths, and weaknesses through this activity. This project brings digital design and 3D printing into elementary school classrooms, teaching useful skills that benefit students throughout their lives. Find the project's progress pictures, curricular connections, and design at https://2teacher4u.wordpress.com/grade-3-science-bridge-building/. I designed this exemplar using the iPad app 123D Design. After printing, I assembled the pieces with a hot glue gun. Curricular Connections From Alberta Grade 3 Science Curriculum: Topic B Students will: Use safely various tools, techniques, and materials in construction activities. Construct structures using diverse materials and designs, comparing their effectiveness for intended purposes. Design, construct, and test structures that support objects, span gaps, serve as containers, or models of living things, objects, or buildings. Select appropriate materials for construction tasks, explaining the choice of materials. Students should demonstrate familiarity with various materials such as papers, woods, plastics, clay, and metals. Select tools suitable to particular tasks and materials, using them safely and effectively. Understand that simple designs are often as effective as complex ones, being easier and cheaper to build. Illustrate this understanding with a practical example. Students will: Evaluate the suitability of different materials and designs for their use in building tasks. Recognize that functional structures must be strong and stable; unstable or weak structures can be unsafe to use. Compare and evaluate the strength and stability of different models or objects constructed. Apply procedures to test the strength of construction materials, particularly papers, plastics, or wood. Project: Building Bridges Objectives: Design, print, and assemble components of a bridge that spans at least 25cm and holds 5kg of mass. Students can choose 3D modeling and printing but are not limited to this method; other materials like wood are allowed. Compare the strength of materials and bridge designs as a class to analyze benefits and disadvantages of each material tested. Audiences: This project is designed for Alberta Grade 3 Science curriculum, but similar design and material strength-testing activities can fit into other elementary grades. More advanced bridge designs could be built for high school or post-secondary engineering and design courses. Preparation: Students building bridges with 3D printers should have access to iPads with the (free) 123D Design app installed. The teacher should create a classroom Autodesk account ahead of time, allowing all designs to be accessed from a single PC. Students should have prior experience with the app. 1. Plan out bridge design: What type will it be? Where will support be? 2. Design bridges on iPad 123D Design app while logged into the classroom Autodesk account. 3. Upload finished bridge designs to the cloud under appropriate names (e.g., "BillyAndSusiesBridge"). 4. Print off finished bridge pieces from 123D Design PC software. Students should help by preheating the 3D printer and applying adhesive as necessary. 5. Assemble bridge components and prepare for weight testing. Results: The uploaded .stl files are my "basic" grade 3 design, created as an exemplar and demonstration to students. There are many more designs that students can create with shapes available in the 123D Design app. Completion of individual bridges should be a completion mark; they should not be penalized if their bridge falls apart under weight. The real assessment comes from what they show they've learned afterwards, in the form of a short report written in their science journals, an ongoing effort kept either digitally or in a notebook, where they analyze and compare different materials and bridge structures that they and their classmates built.