Bridges: The Art and Science for Creating Community Connections

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 08.04.09

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Objectives
  3. Strategies
  4. Bridges
  5. Calatrava's bridges
  6. Activities
  7. Lesson Plan 1: The Examination of the Structure of Leaves and Humans
  8. Lesson Plan 2: Finding and Developing Ideas from Nature as Inspiration for Bridge Designs
  9. Lesson Plan 3: The Building of the Bridge Models
  10. End Notes
  11. Bibliography for Teachers
  12. Reading List for Students
  13. Materials for Classroom Use
  14. Implementing District Standards
  15. Appendix

Bridges: Inspired by Nature

Karen Ruth Sturdy Yarnall

Published September 2008

Tools for this Unit:

Materials for Classroom Use

A variety of appropriate art supplies, materials and tools will be available for student use.

These will include balsa wood, mat board, foam board, drawing paper, graph paper, cardboard, drawing boards, wood scraps, clay, string, wire, nylon, pliers, a drill, X-acto knives, a jigsaw, a hand saw, paints, inks, various glues, glue guns, rulers, triangles, T-squares, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, and various fasteners.

These books will be in the classroom for student use at any time:

Bridges of the World. The Five Mile Press Pty Ltd: San Francisco, CA, 2007. Found in

some bookstores for under $4.00, this book features information on Prague's Charles

Bridge, the Rialto Bridge in Venice, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, San Francisco's

Golden Gate Bridge and New York's Brooklyn Bridge plus it has puzzles of the first

four bridges.

Dunn, Chris. Structures: Bridges. New York: Thompson Learning, 1993. An excellent

book for children, it should still be helpful for high school students because of its

simple but clear explanations.

Cowan, Henry J., Ruth Greenstein, Bronwyn Hannah, John Haskell, Trevor Howells,

Deborah Malor, John Philips, Thomas A. Ranieri, Mark Stiles and Bronwyn Sweeney.

A Guide to the World's Greatest Buildings: Masterpieces of Architecture &

Engineering. San Francisco, CA: Fog City Press, 2007. Not only does this contain a

variety of bridges, it also contains some other great gems through history and it was

on the sale racks at bookstores for under $4.00.

Jodidio, Philip. Santiago Calatrava. Koln, Germany: Taschen, 2007. Published at $9.99,

this is a must-have for the classroom.

Oxlade, Chris. Technology Craft Topics: Bridges and Tunnels. New York: Franklin

Watts, 1994. This book is for students and not only does it explain bridge basics, but

it has some simple illustrations for students to follow for making their own bridges.

Weiner, Vicki. The Brooklyn Bridge: New York's Graceful Connection. USA: Children's

Press, a Division of Scholastic Inc., 2004. This tells the riveting story of engineer

John Roebling and his son Washington and the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. The

concept of caissons, dangerous underwater construction work chambers for men, is

clearly explained in words, photos and illustrations.

Comments:

Susan Mitchell Hechter

March 11, 2009 at 11:52 am

Karen Yarnall

Sounds like an appealingly appropriate project for High School.

Damian Nash

October 14, 2016 at 2:34 pm

Extraordinary Resource!

Karen Yarnall has absolutely captured the magic of the same curriculum theme that I have been using in my IET Core classes at Kauai High School. Her arts-integration approach to bridge design leads students into a mathematical appreciation of the natural world and also the world of design. This is the way that Calatrava should be understood and appreciated! Well done. Bravo! Her lesson plans will significantly improve my own. I wish I could borrow her PowerPoint slide shows as well. Damian Nash

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