PHOTO BY: DOUG PORTER Project-Based Learning: Bridge Building and Design

HANDS-ON DISCOVERY LEARNING APPLICATION OF SCIENCE CONCEPTS DEVELOPS AN INTEREST IN SCIENCE PRODUCES A LEARNING ARTIFACT Project-Based Learning (PBL)

What is PBL? What does it look like? See it in action below…. bedded&v=9J0NfUe8PIo&safe=active bedded&v=9J0NfUe8PIo&safe=active

SO MANY TYPES OF BRIDGES HOW DO BRIDGES WORK ? HOW DO BRIDGES WORK ? DESIGNING YOUR OWN BRIDGE DESIGNING YOUR OWN BRIDGE CONSTRUCTING YOUR OWN BRIDGE CONSTRUCTING YOUR OWN BRIDGE PBL Bridge Building Project

What are you going to be doing? *Math is the leading subject of this PBL project *In Math classes, you will spend at least nine class periods designing and building your own bridges in groups *In Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts – you will be doing background research, learning about factors that influence bridge strength and stability, and the history of bridges in our country and world.

What are you going to be doing? *In May, you and your groups will be presenting your bridges to an audience of other classmates, teachers, community members, and engineers. *This will be a project that you will be working on at school, in your classes, at various times from today through the end of April.

Day 1 – Introduction Research the history - Close Read of “History of Bridge Development” Analyze different and basic bridge types Explore how bridges work Watch videos on bridge design and failures Play online bridge building games

Bridge Types PBS.ORG

ROMAN AQUEDUCT Arch Bridge PBS.ORG

Beam Bridge

GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE Suspension Bridge PBS.ORG

Cantilever Truss Bridge Firth of Forth Bridge

Video Playlist – 10 segments “How stuff works” – Bridges anding-bridges-videos-playlist.htm (Ten video segments each 2-4 minutes long on various parts of bridges, how they work, collapses, etc.)

Video “Smart Bridges” mart-bridges.html mart-bridges.html (9:52)

Interactive – “Why Bridges Failed” ge-collapse.html ge-collapse.html

Bridge Building Games Do these on the screen together – how well can you build your bridge? Why does it fail? Cargo Bridge Build the Bridge bridge/ bridge/

PHOTOS BY: DOUG PORTER Types of Bridges Can you determine the bridge type?

PHOTO BY: DOUG PORTER Bebb’s Park Bridge Butler County, Ohio It’s hard to tell what type this bridge is from this angle but click again to see the structure from inside.

PHOTO BY: DOUG PORTER Bebb’s Bridge Structure So what type is this? If you guessed It’s a truss bridge You’re right.

PHOTO BY: DOUG PORTER Lost Bridge, ElizabethTown, Ohio What type do you think this is? If you guessed Beam Bridge you were right.

PHOTO BY: DOUG PORTER John A. Roebling Bridge Cincinnati, Ohio Long cables suspended between pillars tell you it is a…… Suspension Bridge

PHOTO BY: DOUG PORTER Historic George Street Bridge Aurora, Indiana It’s a truss bridge. Also known as a Whipple truss.