Strategies and Suggestions
Images and books on bridges should pervade the classroom environment as much as possible. Power Point Presentation should be prepared in advance for: the history of forces, including images of scientists and diagrams or graphs to illustrate concepts wherever possible and one on bridges that include examples of all basic bridge types, (see background information above). Examples of bridges should span time and come from countries across the world and should ideally include examples from countries of any recently immigrated ethnic groups represented in the classroom. The teacher may want to consider a chronological approach to presenting bridge images. Refer to the bibliography for books and the information above on the history of forces to identify appropriate images.
There is a hands-on component to this unit and some supplies will be needed. Ideally, the teacher will be able to furnish these supplies to the students. The teacher will obviously need to consider whether students will work on models independently or in pairs, consider classroom management, working space, storage of the bridges, and line up engineers and architects to visit the classroom during construction. It is highly recommended that the teacher make a bridge before assigning this project for an appreciation of the skill and time needed to accomplish such a construction. Furthermore, it is recommended that the teacher speak to an engineer for feedback on this finished teacher construction. This initial model would also be an ideal way to network with engineers and discuss ways they could interface with your class.
Incorporated but not discussed in the lesson plans is the use of Cornell Style Note taking and Interactive Notebook approaches. Both are included as this unit is ideal as an opening unit for the year and an introduction to both methods is ideally addressed at this time.
In concluding activities students will be expected to construct a bridge and create a presentation on what they learned. This should cover both standards and student skills, (See parts 9 and 10 of the lesson plans below). It is recommended that teachers have students identify "student skills" goals as they proceed through this unit in addition to setting goals for learning standards. This unit can be easily assessed through a portfolio type assessment as well. The teacher will need to consider creating rubrics for hands on components.
This unit is laid out in 10 parts, developed for block scheduling, and will take approximately 8-9 weeks to complete if needed math skills and math standards as noted in Appendix A are covered fully where noted throughout lesson plans.
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