Golden Gate Bridge
Picture by Cybrary Man
BRIDGE BUILDING COMPETITION
I did a “Lego” bridge building activity with my students. The initial activity was for the students to conduct an inventory of the bridges in our city. One year we were able to have a civil engineer talk to the children and show pictures of bridge construction. I would divide the class up into groups depending on how many sets of Legos I had acquired. (The students wrote letters to businesses asking for their support in getting the Lego sets for our bridge building competition). Each team first had to do research on bridge construction and then come up with a design. Then I would have teams of students working in an assembly line either constructing a bridge or a building. Each team had a specific responsibility in this process.
The children enjoyed competing against the other students in the class.
Useful Links
Bridge Building
The Bridges of LEGO® County
How Bridges Work - Howstuffworks
Structural Engineering Bridge History
The Historic Bridge Foundation
Bridge Research
Civil Engineering - Bridge Construction
Bridge Activity Teacher Lesson Plan
ABCD's Bridge Design Tips for Kids
Bridges - Activity, Projects,
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From left: Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge
Photograph taken by Cybrary Man from the World Trade Center
A bridge is a structure built to span a gorge, valley, road, railroad track, river, body of water, or any other physical obstacle. Designs may be built higher than otherwise needed in order to allow other traffic (particularly ship traffic) beneath.
The purpose of a bridge is to allow easier passage by providing a continuous more uniform more easily navigable route via what would otherwise be an uneven or impossible path for the particular kind of thing travelling or being transported, whether people, vehicles, trains, ships, liquids or whatever else.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
Digital Bridges
Roebling's Bridge Division
American Highway Project
Bridge Engineering
Building BIG: Bridges... (PBS)
Cable Stayed Bridge Structures
Moveable Bridges (Google)
Truss Bridge Laboratory
Super Bridge
Physics Balsa Bridge Building Contest
Spaghetti Bridge
Geometry of Bridge Construction
Building Big: All About Bridges
Bridge Designer Virtual Laboratory
Bridge Designer - designing trusses
West Point Bridge Design Contest
Forces Lab
Why do bridges ice before the rest of the highway - Howstuffworks
Famous Bridges--Physical Science-Technology lesson plan
The BridgeSite - Links to Bridge Photo Galleries
Bridge Image Galleries (Google)
Brooklyn Bridge - John Augustus Roebling - Great Buildings Online
Golden Gate Bridge PBS
Golden Gate Bridge Research Library
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