2024-25 Storybook STEAM Project: Bridges
It's been a while since we built bridges in the library. It was my very first STEAM challenge, back in 2019-20. We grew plants last year and studied Jack's fairy tale about the Beanstalk (2023-24). In 2022-23, we made castles and studied Cinderella's fairytale. In 2021-22 we made towers and studied Rapunzel's fairytale. And in 2020-21, we made spinning wheels and studied Rumpelstiltskin's fairytale. So it is time to return to bridges, which is a classic STEM challenge. And what better way than to study the Billy Goats Gruff?
I like to make my STEM challenge last all year. We start out with researching. This year, for research, students are going to learn about the different kinds of bridges. This way, they will be able to choose the kind of bridge to make based off background knowledge, instead of just randomly creating a bridge without putting thought into it. We will create a presentation of some kind about our research, such as a Spark Video or iMovie. This way, kids can take a picture of their bridge to put at the end of their project, and then even if their bridge gets thrown away, they will always have the video with the picture of themselves holding their bridge.
Back to the challenge... Once our research is done, students will use the Engineer Design Process to build their project. First, they will imagine the possibilities and draw their bridge. They can use research at this point to find ideas online. Then they label their drawing with the materials they need to make it. Which means they decide what to make their bridge out of, after looking at a visual list of all the materials I have available for them. They will create a resource list, and they will only get to have what they write on their list. Of course, I am flexible and will let students revise their list if they need to.
Once they have their materials, they will start building.
But wait! I almost forgot. We are going to read a graphic novel called the Super Billy Goats Gruff. This is important, because we are going to test our bridges, and what better way to test them than to act out the story?
I have weights in my STEAM supplies, and my plan is to make the four biggest weights a part of the story. The troll will be the big weight, and the three Billy Goats are the three other largest weights. I'll print off a popsicle stick puppet sheet for the story and color each character, and attach the character puppets to the weights. Then the students can act out the story to test their bridges, using the character weights.
But first, I want students to have a chance to improve their bridges before they act out the story, just to make sure that their bridges won't break during their final test. So I am going to use an old balance scale to help the students test their bridge. They can't use the weights until the final test, but they can use the balance scale to find something that weighs the same as the weights, that they can place on their bridge to test it. When I did this back in 2020, we got some rubber bands and crayons. The students made crayon bundles that weighed the right amounts and put them on their bridges to test them, so they could make improvements before the final test when they acted out the story. We shall see what the students come up with this year!
I almost forgot! I made a river out of a blue paper, and the students' bridges have to be long enough to cross the river. The river was wider with the fifth graders and narrower with the third graders, with the fourth grader's river right in between. It made for an extra good challenge. Storybook STEAM is my favorite part of my job. I am excited to reuse my lessons and perfect the Bridge Engineer Challenge this coming school year!
Citations:
Image of Three Billy Goats Gruff: https://sowingseedslibrarian.com/tag/the-three-billy-goats-gruff/
Image of Super Billy Goats Gruff: https://www.amazon.com/Super-Billy-Goats-Gruff-Graphic/dp/1434296539
Image of brass weights: https://www.ebay.com/itm/354569776646
Image of Engineer Design Process: https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/285556432599434473/?amp_client_id=CLIENT_ID%28_%29&mweb_unauth_id=&simplified=true
Image of popsicle stick bridge with goat: https://www.chulavistaca.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/30628/5810?curdate=5-13-2018
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