Engineering Camp
Tuesday
Today campers explored the second step in the Engineering Design Process. They started the day with a brainstorming activity where they identify the best solution to a challenge by learning to identify relevant criteria and asking the question:
What makes a solution successful?
Campers then explored two challenges related to Structural Engineering, the engineering field of the day. They learned that different fields of engineering often work together to inform projects.
The first structural engineering challenge was to test pasta bridges to see how much weight they could support. They used dried lima beans as the weight. They tested bridges made from one, two, four and eight pieces of pasta. Although the number of pieces of pasta doubled each time, campers realized that the amount of weight the bridge could hold more than doubled each time.
The second structural engineering challenge was to create a building from toothpicks and marshmallows that could withstand a jello earthquake. This was a difficult challenge. They explored one and two story structures.
