Democracy and Structure

What you are Exploring this week… You’ll be defining and breaking apart the concept of DEMOCRACY You’ll be analyzing the idea of STRUCTURE and the connection between DEMOCRACY AND STRUCTURE You’ll literally be building a structure and reflecting on how that applies to the idea of DEMOCRACY

Democracy- a mind map Quick review of the components of a Mind Map Let’s now build a draft Democracy Mind Map

Debrief of the Mind map Take 1 min to look at the mind map… What are some conclusions you can come up with about Democracy based on our mind map? (Conclusions are statements about the idea or topic) What would you say is the most important aspect or component about Democracy? Connecting to Bigger Picture: How can structure play a role in democracy?

Structure of democracy What you are examining now: Examining how structure is important in setting up anything that you want standing for a long time You’ll be building a structure out of spaghetti and marshmallows You’ll be reflecting on your structure and what worked well and what didn’t You’ll be making a connection between the importance of structure and democracy

Thinking before we get to work: Before you build anything that you want to last and stay standing… What goes into building anything? (Hint- think of Skoropad and physics) What must an architect take into account when designing a structure?

Problems with structure… Let’s look at some structural issues: The Bay Bridge- Connecting Oakland to San Francisco- Earthquake of 1989 Bay Bridge Collapse 1989 Earthquake Bay Bridge Reconstruction Things to look for: As you watch the reconstruction of the bridge… Take notice to how the new bridge is being built What’s in place to avoid another collapse…

Lets build a structure… Purpose: To construct a structure using a limited amount of materials. Your structure will be tested by applying weight to see if it stands up Materials: Spaghetti Marshmallows Rules: In teams of 4 You have 20 mins Structure must BE AT LEAST 2 INCHES OFF TABLE Make it work !

Debrief of structure session Take 2 mins to think… If your structure held the weight, what helped in your design to hold the weight? If your structure did not, what was not present to prevent the collapse? Let’s talk about this now… Exit Slip: How can we “construct” a stronger democracy? How do we protect the parts of democracy that we discussed in the beginning of this session? Be sure to look at your mind map on democracy to guide your thinking