Building a Bridge of Bones

Around Halloween I wanted to do an activity that would be fun and themed for Halloween but also throw a little learning in there too.

So we did a little research and found this little gem here. A unit of study called Bone Bridge, a Halloween STEM Challenge by Kerry Tracy.

It was suuuuper fun!

Basically the students had to build a bridge using pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, and Q-tips. The bridge had to stand by itself and support weight as well.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with STEM...
STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Sometimes an art project is done as well. Then it becomes STEAM.

The science behind this activity is the science of building bridges. We used the web (technology) to look at videos of bridge building. The students learned new vocab such as: cantilever, cross support, load, abutment, girders, cable stays, V supports, pylons, etc. It also gave them some ideas how to build their bridges.

In the engineering portion, they were able to discuss and sketch ideas for their bridges and then experiment with building them. There was a lot of frustrations in the room, but it was a great learning experience for them!

Mathematics tied in with this by measuring how long the bridge was, how high the bridge was (one of the criteria was that it had to be supported with at least an inch below it), and how many counting bears the bridge could support.

The learning and understanding behind this activity was awesome. It was a fantastic problem solving experience for them!


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Happy Halloween everyone! Be safe out there tonight!

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