The Lethbridge Bridge!

Level: Grade 7 Science

Type of Event: Team Event
Number of people per team:
2-3

Overview
Grade 7s! The City of Lethbridge needs your help to design a new
bridge that connects the South side to the West side of the city. With
the rapid growth of the population in Lethbridge, the city requires this
bridge in order to reduce traffic crossing the Whoop-Up Bridge, and the
HWY 3 Bridge! As well, the creation of this bridge will make travel for
the people of Lethbridge more convenient, providing a quick
connection between these two parts of town!
The City of Lethbridge has asked for your grade 7 class to assist in the
design process of the bridge. Your group is required to create a design
of your choice that will be cost efficient for the city, and strong enough
to be sustainable. This bridge will need to be able to support a dynamic
load through a variety of weather conditions. The build should be
structurally sound to last for over 100 years! You have the freedom to
choose which style of structure your bridge will be.
The bridge must cover a total distance of 1000 meters clearing over
the river and the coulee gap. This project provides you the opportunity
to make a bridge model to scale to illustrate your design.
Once your bridge model is completed, you and your group will create a
digital presentation using the I-pads describing your design to the city
council. This presentation should describe why your bridge design is
the best design for the city to use! This presentation needs to be a
MINIMUM of three minutes, and no longer than five minutes.

Project Requirements:

Design Process - Each group member must design an individual

bridge, and then choose the best design to build (This final
design can incorporate ideas from all bridges, or just be one of
the designs). During the design process, record the estimated

amount of toothpicks and glue that will be required.

Write-Up This write up appropriately describes the reasoning

behind the chosen design, and refers to its ability to supporting
the expected load weights and forces. Reference throughout the
reasoning back to the content learned throughout the unit. Make
AT LEAST three separate references to the chapters.

Scaled Model - The model should be as close to scale as possible

as to what the bridge in real life would resemble, and be able to
cover and withstand the appropriate distance. The suggested
scale would be every 100 m would equal 2 cm (bridge would be
required to cover 20 cm to cover the 1000m). You are free to
chose your own scale as long as it is clearly labeled on the
design.

This project will be completed during class-time, and will be completed

near the end of the unit as a final project to demonstrate your
knowledge learned. The only supplies that you are allowed to use
throughout this project will be toothpicks, and school glue.

Materials Required:

Toothpicks KEEP TRACK OF EXACTLY HOW MANY YOU USE

School Glue Limit to One bottle

Throughout the project, the students are responsible for keeping

track of the amount of materials that have been used. This
information will be used to determine the estimated budget of the
bridge construction, and will be analyzed to determine the winning
bridge candidate.

Budget Breakdown
Each group will do their best to stay within their targeted budget. This
budget must include all of the materials that have been used, along

with any materials that may get broken in the building process. In
order to complete this task, students will be responsible for keeping
track of the amount of materials used. Each groups budget should not
exceed 55$, but there is no minimum budget required. The bridge will
be judged on the amount of weight that it will be able to withstand, as
well as the amount of force being able to withstand.

Budget Table
Material Used

Amount Used

Theoretical
Cost of item

Total Amount ($)

Toothpicks
0.10$

School Glue

0.25$
/per quarter bottle

Within your group, assign tasks that each individual will be

responsible for. Maybe one person is the Materials Manager, one
is the Financial Advisor (Budget), and all are workers who
construct the bridge.

Final Project Requirements

Each Individuals Scaled Design AND Reasoning

o NEAT Scaled Design
o Approximate Measurements
o Amount of Materials estimated
o Proposed Budget
o Reasoning with THREE references to content from the unit
Group Design and Individual Job Positions
List of Potential Fail Points

Peer-Evaluation All group members grouped at the end of the

pile.
Group Evaluation Complete a group rubric of the mark that
your group feels they deserve.

Marking Rubric

CATEGORY

Modification/
Testing

Construction
Materials/
Budget

Construction
Care Taking
Aesthetics

Function

Clear evidence
of
troubleshootin
g testing, and
refinements
based on
scientific
principles
Appropriate
materials were
used and
creatively
modified in
ways to make
them better
Great care
taken in the
construction
process so that
the structure is
neat,
aesthetic, and
follows plans
accurately

Clear evidence
of trouble
shooting and
refinements

Some evidence
of
troubleshootin
g and
refinements

Little evidence
of
troubleshootin
g and
refinements

Appropriate
materials were
used and some
effort was
made to
modify them

Appropriate
materials were
selected

Construction
was careful
and accurate
for the most
part, but 1-2
materials could
have been
refined to
create a more
aesthetic
product
Structure
functions well
and is able to
withstand 20
lbs. of weight

Construction
accurately
followed the
plans, but 3-4
details could
have been
refined to
create a more
aesthetic
product

Insufficient
materials were
selected and
contributed to
a structure
that performed
poorly
Construction
appears to be
careless and
many
materials need
to be refined to
create a more
aesthetic
structure

Structure
functions
extremely well,
and is able to
withstand 30
lbs. of weight.

Structure
functions
decently well,
and can
withstand 15
lbs. of weight

Fatal flaws in
the function of
the bridge, and
it is not able to
withstand
sufficient
weight.