STEM Club Activity: Moving House

Published by the Royal Academy of Engineering, this activity sheet for students will enable them to demonstrate the idea of reinforced materials and conclude which is the best to choose for a specifc task, in this case constucting buildings resistant to earthquakes and high winds. The work of a structural engineer is also profiled.

URL: http://stem.org.uk/rx585

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Files

PDF document, Category Three Materials

Moving house

Review

Fun with jelly

Posted by simmo1977 on 14th April 2012

Activity time: 1 hour

Level: 4 -6

Prior knowledge:…

Activity time: 1 hour

Level: 4 -6

Prior knowledge: Basic understanding of structures.

Subject: DT

Curriculum links: Structures

Skills: Teamwork, creativity

Preparation time: 1 hour

Extra resources: Jelly, hot water, polystyrene cups, variety of materials (cocktail sticks, spaghetti, string, wool, etc), newspaper, paper plates, stopwatch, jitterbug, hair dryer

Commentary: I have run this activity with other teachers/professionals several times as an icebreaker for STEMClubs CPD sessions. Due to time constraints I simplified the activity by making a slightly more diluted jelly and simply asking people to reinforce it in 5-10 minutes using the resources that they have been given. On all occasions the activity worked very well with some teachers becoming very competitive!

In my preparations for this activity I experimented with the use of a jitterbug to make the jelly vibrate and collapse. However, I found that it took a long time before any damage to the jelly occurred. I would also recommend using a hairdryer to add another element to this activity by simulating wind loading.

Although I have not used this resource with pupils yet, I certainly intend to and think it would work well in a STEM Club. It could be improved by using a video case study to put it into an engineering context and through the involvement of a Science and Engineering Ambassador (e.g. civil engineer, architect).