What have 7th and 8th Graders been doing with all those toothpicks in Math class you ask? Do they have incredibly clean teeth? Well, maybe they do, or maybe they don’t, but one thing’s for sure, over the last week they’ve been designing, constructing, and building some of the strongest toothpick bridges on the planet.
In order to build these bridges they formed companies of 5 students. Each company has a Project Director, an Architect, a Transportation Chief, an Accountant, and a Carpenter. They’ve been running all aspects of bridge building from designing, to buying materials, to budgeting costs, to actually building the bridges. All they have is toothpicks (lumber), white glue (welding material), land (stiff flat white plastic sheets), and their own ingenuity to make it happen. Their goal is to cross a river with the strongest, most economical, environmentally friendly bridge they can muster up.
These bridges will be judged next week on: 1. How well the design plans match the actual bridge construction and 2. Overall strength. Stay tuned for our Toothpick Bridge Building Contest results. May the group with the cleanest teeth win! No, no, I mean may the strongest bridge win!! 🙂
