This is a great group project that holds student engagement and pulls together all of their learning from the Structures and Forces Unit. There are four parts to the project. In part one: each member of the group begins by independently researching a famous structure and noting what makes the structure significant. They need to decide on a specific element of the researched structure that they want to include in their own project.

Part two is all about construction. Students work together to create a structure with the approved materials. It must incorporate elements from all team members research and withstand three important strength tests (these are all outlined within the project handout). Their structure must also meet important design specifications in order to qualify for the strength tests.

Part three is the Design Testing Day! For my class I set aside a double block so that each structure could go through all three of the tests and students could record their data. Each team member must answer specific questions about how well their structures endured each test.

Finally, part four is a one page report students complete independently after the design testing. This report requires students to think about areas of their structure that suffered deformation or total failure. They are encouraged to use vocabulary and concepts from throughout the unit to complete their report.

The project handout includes detailed instructions for all of the parts as well as a rubric for assessment of all of the parts together.