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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stable and Unstable Structures

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students research three major bridge collapses. For this Physical Science lesson plan, students will sketch a bridge design for their area after their research. All bridge designs will be presented to the class to discuss strengths and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Intro to Building Bridges

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students participate in groups to complete the best bridge.  In this bridge building lesson, students are assigned a role in building the bridge.  Students will have to keep to their budgets. After the bridges are built, parents will be...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Build a Cardboard Bridge That Can Hold Potatoes

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Students identify the characteristics of a bridge and build with junk materials.  In this bridge building lesson, students use cereal boxes, paper towel or toilet paper tubes and tape to create their bridges.  Bridges must be a certain...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bridge Building, Tension, and Compression

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students demonstrate tension and compression using real world examples. In this forces lesson, students demonstrate tension on a suspension bridge. They demonstrate compression on different roof designs.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Suspension Bridge Building

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Young scholars build a model of a suspension bridge and test the amount of weight it will support. In this engineering lesson, students study types of bridges and attempt to construct a suspension bridge shown in a diagram. They use...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Strong as the Weakest Link

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Learners apply knowledge of stresses and forces by building model structures. In this force lesson plan, students consider skyscrapers and bridges in the world around them and the stresses that these structures endure. They use their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ooblek

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students demonstrate the three states of matter. In this matter instructional activity, students read Bartholomew and the Ooblek. Students create "ooblek" and discuss what state of matter it is.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Suspension Bridges: Connecting Lives

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners explore bridges.  In this bridge instructional activity, students design and build a suspension bridge after visiting related websites and reviewing famous bridges in non-fiction books.  Learners follow the instructions from the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mixtures Lab

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students classify different mixtures. In this mixtures lesson plan, students determine samples to be suspensions, colloids, or solutions and compare homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Skyscrapers: Engineering Up!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students build their own newspaper skyscrapers with limited materials and time. They identify several different structural engineering principles relating to skyscrapers. They explain how their towers resisted the wind load.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Newspaper Tower

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students design and construct a tower out of newspaper using a limited supply of newspaper, tape, and scissors. After completing their designs, they identify which designs can withstand the self-weight of the newspaper tower as well as...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Carve That Mountain

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate major landforms (e.g., mountains, rivers, plains, hills, oceans and plateaus). They build a three-dimensional model of a landscape depicting several of these landforms. Once they have built their model, they act as...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Suspension Bridge

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students view a video clip about suspension bridges. They discover what forces support this type of bridge. They build their own suspension bridge using classroom materials.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bridging History and Technology

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students study the history and importance of the Triborough Bridge in New York City, and then research different bridges and prepare presentations about them. They, in groups, research a bridge and prepare a poster about it.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bridge Building

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students design and build their own balsa wood model bridges. The technological development of bridges, the science principles that apply to bridge building, and the construction techniques and skills necessary for creating a bridge be...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lessons in Courage: Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Ruby Bridges

For Teachers 1st
First graders discover the contributions of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges in the Civil Rights Movement. Books and recordings are used to help students explain how important they were in the movement.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mixing in the Kitchen

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students identify the different types of mixtures. They identify examples of solutions, suspensions, colloidal dispersions, and emulsions through a game and basic experiments.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Bridge is for Crossing

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students examine the bridges of Washington State. They focus on the suspension bridge between Tacoma and Gig Harbor. They see how three different types of bridges work by rotating students through bridge stations.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Is London Bridge Really Going to Fall Down?

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Learners discover what forces work together to hold up a suspension bridge. They see various bridges around the world, and learn the basic principles that enable each bridge to support itself. Groups design their own bridge, testing how...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Building a Bridge

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students design a bridge. In this science lesson, students research different types of bridges and create a bridge using marshmallows, toothpicks and construction paper.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Famous Bridges

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explain how significant bridges are in our lives. For this technology lesson, students research the history and characteristics of their assigned bridge and draw it on butcher block paper. They write a short tour script and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bridges

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students compare and contrast the three primary types of bridges. In this technology lesson plan, students design and build a bridge that spans 25 cm. They test their design and present the results to class.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Presentations

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students give presentations.  In this unit culmination lesson, students present their bridge projects to parents.  Students test their bridges and are evaluated using a rubric.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stable and Unstable Structures

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students consider ways to create stable bridges. In this bridge design lesson, students view pictures of bridges that have collapsed. They use the information to work in small groups creating a blueprint for a bridge of their own. Their...