Engineering Design Challenge (Ginna Shin)

Title: Paper Tower Challenge

Principle(s) Investigated: Define, evaluate, and design a solution to a real-life event (tower) using scientific principles.

Standards:

MS-ETS1-1 Engineering Design: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

MS-ETS1-2 Engineering Design: Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

MS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design: Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

Materials: Two sheets of paper, ten paper clips, scissors, pencil/pen and and lab sheet.

Link to Handout Here

Quickwrite

Procedure: Students will act as civil engineers. They will be working in pairs in designing, constructing and testing a tower. They are given limited supplies (mentioned in materials above), to mimic the real-world limitations faced by engineers. The criteria is that the tower must be built with only the resource provided, be at least 100 cm (1 meter) tall, and be free standing for at least 30 seconds. They will be given time to answer questions, brainstorm 3 different designs with their partner, come up with a design and then test their design.

Student prior knowledge: By the time students embark on this challenge, they will have had prior knowledge with Newton's first (inertia, un/balanced forces) and second laws (F=ma, net force, equilibrium).

Explanation: After this activity, students should be able to:

• Identify which designs were un/successful in withstanding the self-weight of the paper tower.
• Explain how their towers were un/successful in reaching 100 cm and freestanding for 30 seconds using scientific terminology learned in another lessons (forces- gravity, air, friction, applied, normal, and un/balanced forces).
• Evaluate competing design solutions (similarities and differences) and identify best design solutions.

Questions & Answers:

1. What forces act on a tall structure? There are several- students may mention normal force (table), gravity, air resistance (wind), and applied forces.
2. What problems would you expect when building a tall structure? The forces acting on the paper tower as mentioned above, limited resources and inability to have a solid base.
3. If you had the chance to re-design your tower, what changes would you make and why? This will vary pair from pair. However, after observing and evaluating other groups, students may adopt other groups designs and tweak them to create their final design.

Applications to Everyday Life:

1. When visiting Italy, we might visit the Tower of Pisa and notice that the tower is leaning to one side. This would be a great opportunity to talk about forces acting (mentioned above and possibly center of gravity) on the tower and the engineering involved in its restoration process.
2. Forget Italy, school takes place in a building. With the earthquake drill around the corner, students can discuss how the shifts in tectonic plates/magnitude of the (potential earthquake) may cause unwanted shifts/motions (ie., building crumbling, items in the classroom moving).
3. When watching Rapunzel, a disney movie, you notice the she lives in a tower. She uses her long hair as a pulley to leave her wicked mother. What forces are at work here?

Photographs: Include photos and diagrams that illustrate the how the investigation is performed.

Videos: Clip of the paper tower challenge