Bridges: The Art and Science for Creating Community Connections

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 08.04.03

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. Objectives
  4. Strategies
  5. Basic Bridge Information
  6. Famous Bridges
  7. Failed Bridges
  8. Lesson Plans
  9. Bibliography
  10. Student Resources
  11. Appendix
  12. Notes

Learning by Mistakes-Bridge Failures

Shelley Freedman-Bailey

Published September 2008

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Introduction

"Mistakes are portals of discovery," according to James Joyce. The evolution of bridges is attributed to creativity, technology, and mistakes. Prior mistakes have facilitated the incredible bridges of today. This unit of study is intended to lead my students through these portals to discover bridges.

I am a middle school teacher for the gifted and talented students. For the past nine years, I have been fortunate to teach qualifying students in this elective semester program. One of the units I taught is architecture, in which basic bridge types are covered. This unit on bridges is written to challenge my sixth grade students with productive thinking, and creative strategies. Bridges will act as a vehicle to connect math, science, geography, history, and technology using different learning styles. Of special interest are bridges that have encountered some challenges or problems. These challenges might be due to forces within or beyond human control. Specific challenges are when a bridge has failed, collapsed, been neglected, or destroyed.

I hope that my students will not only be inspired by the subject matter and the challenges that are presented, but will also make the connection between bridges and humans. These unusual circumstances, problems, or mistakes are human errors that are a part of life. If an engineer, inspector, ship captain or general takes responsibility for a bridge's demise, then students' errors or failures may be viewed as only miniscule by comparison. Oftentimes, those students who excelled in elementary school lag behind in middle school because they do not enjoy being different. My gifted or talented middle school students struggle with peer- pressure. They are teased and feel threatened by being successful academically. For them, it is often easier or tempting not to be academically competitive. They view themselves as being able to get by with little effort or failing academically, to conform. When challenged or when mistaken, they sometimes simply give up. If I can inspire them to problem solve using bridges, be creative, and arrive at new ideas, maybe they would aspire to be engineers, scientists, humanists, or productive citizens with knowledge of their individual talents and interest.

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