Learning Digitally

Each spring our 5th graders complete a bridge building exercise. Working in teams, students take on the jobs of accountant, engineer, designer, and builder. Their task is to build a bridge out of toothpick, within a budget, and that can stand on its own. The bridge that can hold to most weight wins. The students love the unit, learning about  bridge designs, working cooperatively, and having lots of hands-on fun.

Today, over at the Official Google Blog, a different kind of bridge competition was announced, the SketchUp 2009 International Student Bridge Modeling Competition. Unfortunately for the 5th graders they are too young to enter this year, (you have to be 18 years or older) but why let a little detail like that get in the way of expanding their design talents by letting them loose in Sketchup.

Maine has some incredible examples of bridge design from the historic Sewall’s Bridge in York, the carriage road bridges in Acadia National Park, to the very modern Penobscot Narrows Bridge. Playing and learning in a 3D environment which bridge would they be inspired to try to draw? Perhaps they might want to try designing Maine’s next great bridge or perhaps the world’s next great span. Where would it go? What design principals would they use to build their bridge? With their drawings complete, the teams can place the drawings into a GoogleEarth map to save and share. This is an opportunity to practice their lat/long skills, determine if their bridge matches the terrain of the area, and to show off their work.

Moving back to a hands-on challenge the student teams can now take their design from computer to toothpick? Does what looks good on paper work in the real world? The first time they try using Sketchup our fifth graders might make some mistakes, but so do grown-up engineers when moving from drawing board to model. But, what a great opportunity to ask: what did you learn, what did you try, and did you have fun.