We have over 330 students in our 8th grade Science classes at Cedar Park Middle School.  We would like an opportunity to do a practical exercise with them.  The students will breakout into small teams that will work through the full engineering lifecycle - design, build, and finally test.

The students will create bridges of glued basswood sticks.  We’ll coach them through the design process and create one-to-one scaled engineering plans. Students will cover the plans with wax paper and build their scaled bridge on top, measuring exact dimensions. We'll need pins and clamps to hold everything during assembly, until the glue is set.  Once the teams have their engineered product, it will be time to test.

They will drive a semi-truck onto each bridge (a block of wood with pre-measured weighted material.) They will then record measurements and keep adding weight until they stress the bridge to its breaking point.

This project will be a great way for our students to have a hands-on engineering project that our regular school budgets do not allow for.  Real experiences make such a difference in a student’s perspective and engage students of all ability levels.  Please consider funding our project!

Bridge Supply Wish List:

Work Bench - 2 x $30 = $60

Cutting Mats - 30 x $8 = $240

Timber Cutters - 20 x $21.25 = $425

Mini Easy Cutters - 40 x $18.50 = $740

T-pins - 60 x $3.25 = $195

Glue - 6 x $6.50 = $39 

Empty mini glue bottles = $30

Bass Wood - 8 x $52 = $416

Reference books= $52.90

Drawing paper=$20

________________________

Total= $2218