The Challenge: Imagine you are a structural engineer
and you must
design and build a structure
that can hold the most weight
using only
gumdrops and toothpicks.
We started with square shapes:
We added books and quickly discovered that square shaped structures fall over easily.
We then moved on to triangles and combos of triangles, squares and diamonds.
Although these shapes bore more books, they also fell over under a heavy load.
The Navigators have been amazed by the innovations and abilities
of the Renaissance people we have been studying.
So naturally, we wondered how in the world did Filippo Brunelleschi build the Duomo in Florence?!
We watched a short animated video on how he might have built his dome
and experimented with egg shell halves.
We discovered that the dome shape of the shell halves are very strong.
We added more and more books until the eggs broke.
Thirty-seven books is the classroom record!
Our scientific drawings, observations, conclusions:
Drawings of the Brunelleschi's dome:
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| This student went online to find the statistics for the dome which he shared with the rest of the class. |
Drawings of egg shells holding books.
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| The bunny was the straw that broke the camel's back. :) |
I sent home a link to the Nova documentary called
"Great Cathedral Mystery."
Several families reported that they really enjoyed it.
What a privilege and a pleasure it is to teach engaged, enthusiastic children!
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