Lesson Plan: Marshmallow towers!
Planned by Lucie Guo and Aaron Goldin; Taught by Lucie Guo and Bianca Calderon
Introduction: Hey kids, have you ever wondered what architects and civil engineers do? Do you ever think about what goes into constructing a building? Do you recognize these buildings? [Use visual aids 1,2] Do you know what the world’s tallest buildings are? [Use visual aids 3,4] http://www.sciencedays.org/lessons/marshmallowvisual.pdf
The concepts of the lesson: principles of structural engineering, including force, geometry, statical determinacy. And of course, teamwork!
Materials used:
Goal of lesson: A competition to see who can build the tallest structure out of a limited number of toothpicks and marshmallows!
Instructions:
Resources:
http://www.sciencedays.org/lessons/marshmallowvisual.pdf
Planned by Lucie Guo and Aaron Goldin; Taught by Lucie Guo and Bianca Calderon
Introduction: Hey kids, have you ever wondered what architects and civil engineers do? Do you ever think about what goes into constructing a building? Do you recognize these buildings? [Use visual aids 1,2] Do you know what the world’s tallest buildings are? [Use visual aids 3,4] http://www.sciencedays.org/lessons/marshmallowvisual.pdf
The concepts of the lesson: principles of structural engineering, including force, geometry, statical determinacy. And of course, teamwork!
Materials used:
- - Bags of marshmallows
- - Colored toothpicks
- - For demonstration: Bigger marshmallows and spaghetti
- - Ruler or measuring tape (for determining the winning group!)
- - What shape can you make with four equal sides? [A square! A rhombus! A diamond... you can make an infinite number of shapes with four sides]
- - What shape can you make with three equal sides? [Equilateral triangle!]
- - What shape would be stronger? [Demonstrate with big marshmallows and
Goal of lesson: A competition to see who can build the tallest structure out of a limited number of toothpicks and marshmallows!
Instructions:
- Split kids into groups of 2-3. (For 50 kids, we would have 16-25 groups altogether, but we’ll teach only 5-8 groups at a time)
- Give each group 50 marshmallows and 100 colored toothpicks. Be sure to remind them not to prick themselves (or each other) with the toothpicks...the ends are sharp.
- Let them build! Set a time limit: 20 minutes, for example.
- Help them along the way with hints: 1) triangles are stronger than squares, 2) a strong foundation goes a long way, etc...
- Measure the heights of each structure to determine the winning group!
- What did everyone learn? What were some of the problems that everyone encountered in their construction?
- Did everyone come to realize that triangles are stronger than squares? So here’s a problem: human beings love to live in square shaped things (for example, the room we're in). So, how do we make things strong?" [We use trusses, or framing, see Visual Aid 5-7]
- - Calculate the forces on a free-standing triangle or square, and prove that shapes other than triangles are statically indeterminate.
- - For a static system, all the forces must balance out.
- the sum of the horizontal components of the forces equals zero 2) the sum of the vertical components of the forces equals zero
Resources:
http://www.sciencedays.org/lessons/marshmallowvisual.pdf