Da Vinci's Bridge Day 3 and 4

This lesson is part 2 of 2, Days 3 and 4. This lesson is set up to have students explore the friction bridge designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. Students have discovered the inventor and become familiar with the bridge itself. There are built in opportunities to support core classes with 6th grade math, ELA, Science and Social Studies standards included. Day 3 finds the students competing in teams to see who can individually build the longest bridge in a timed event, day 4 has the students use their new skills and building practices to create their own design with the same components. This bridge will be asked to hold weight, something that rolls, or something that moves (different stresses a bridge must endure).

I provide balsa sticks, but have done this with pencils, chopsticks, twigs, etc. The smaller the stick, the more difficult the build.