Bridges: The Art and Science for Creating Community Connections

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 08.04.02

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Objectives
  3. Strategies
  4. Appendix 1
  5. Appendix 2
  6. Appendix 3
  7. Appendix 4-Bridge Building Project

Building Bridges in Earthquake Country: From the Past to the Present

Lisa A. Ernst

Published September 2008

Tools for this Unit:

Appendix 3

California State Objective for:

The California Earth Science Standards that will be addressed in the unit will be addressed include the following:

1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth''s surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept:

  1. Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.
  2. Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, results from plate motions.
  3. Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.
  4. Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region.

7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conduction careful

Investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. The students will be able

  1. Develop a hypothesis.
  2. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.
  3. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop qualitative statements about the relationships between variables.
  4. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.
  5. Recognize whether evidence is consistent with a proposed explanation.

The California Social Studies Standards that will be addressed in this unit include the following:

6.1.2 identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments.

6.7.8 discuss the legacies of Roman art and architecture, technology and science, literature, language, and law.

The California Technology/ Language Arts Standards that will be addressed in this unit include the following:

1.4Use organizational features of electronic text (e.g. bulletin boards, databases, keyword searches, e-mail addresses) to locate information.

1.5Compose documents with appropriate formatting by using word-processing skills and principles of design (e.g., margins, tabs, spacing, columns, page orientation).

The California Visual Arts Standards that will be addressed in this unit include the following:

1.1 Identify and describe all the elements of art found in selected works of art (e.g., color, shape/form, line texture, space, value).

1.4 Describe how balance is effectively used in a work of art (e.g., symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial).

Comments:

Lisa A. Ernst

July 7, 2009 at 12:01 am

Revisions to this Unit

As the original author of this unit, I would like to inform the reader of two new areas of interest. First of all, knowing that I had wide variety of labs and activities, I needed to locate funding. I turned to Donors Choose. This funding is open to teachers all across the nation. I submitted a grant using the above title of this unit and received over 600.00. This amount covered books on bridges, clay, blocks, etc. Second of all I added an art component to this unit. Working with my art teacher, she and were able to guide the students in groups to design, and build bridges out of clay. They were fired in the kiln and glazed. Two of the bridges were submitted to the SFUSD art show under project based learning, and the others were auctioned off at our school Gala.

Lisa A Ernst

February 19, 2021 at 2:44 pm

As the the author of this specific project

Some updates: Now aligned to the Common Core and the NGSS. Awarded the Sylvia Shugrue from NSTA on this unit in 2014. Donors Choose funding, which enabled this unit to be integrated into a Makerspace. Which contains, a 3D printer, 3D pens, and hand tools to make model bridges.

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