Javier Builds a Bridge
A Civil Engineering Story
Learning Targets
□ Students will develop an
understanding of the role of civil
engineers in designing structures.
□ Students will discuss some of the
problems, criteria, constraints, and
solutions associated with designing
bridges.
□ Students will identify steps in the
Engineering Design Process.
Lesson 1
□ Guiding Questions:
□ What is a civil engineer?
□ What things do you think a civil engineer
might design?
□ Story is introduced:
□ Begins with a problem.
□ Brainstorming is done to solve the
problem.
□ A prototype is built and tested.
□ Final product is made
Javier Builds a Bridge
□ Being a new stepbrother to little Luisa
isn't always as much fun as Javier first
thought it would be. When Luisa falls
off the bridge leading to Javi's fort, his
mother tells him they'll have to take the
bridge down.
□ After some careful thinking, Javi
realizes that he might be able to
convince his parents to let him keep
the bridge to his fort - if he can design
a safer one.
Javier Builds a Bridge
□ With some help from his cousins and
some inspiration from his little sister, Javi
comes up with a new bridge design.
□ But will it pass the inspection of his
stepfather, Joe, a real civil engineer?
Golden Gate Bridge
Natchez Trace Bridge
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
Lesson 2
□ Guiding Question: How do civil
engineers prevent the pushes and pulls
that act on a structure from making
the structure fail?
Structure
□ What kind of structures do you think civil
engineers work on?
□ Bridges are structures that are under
extreme gravitational forces.
□ Beams that form the structure of the bridge
are either under compression or tension.
□ Compressive forces squeeze the beams
inwards while tension forces stretch the
beams outwards.
□ The bridge is not moving so all forces acting
on the bridge are balanced.
Forces
□ What kinds of things might apply a
push or a pull to these kinds of
structures?
□ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/bridge/in
dex.html
□ Compression: a pushing force
□ Tension: a pulling force
□ Torsion: a twisting force
□ Shear: two opposing forces acting on the
same point
Suspension Bridges
□ Video
□ What forces caused the failure of the
Tacoma Narrows Bridge?
□ What part of the Engineering Design
Process was not addressed?
Three Little Pigs
□ Identify the pushes and pulls acting on
the houses in the story.
□ How might a civil engineer solve the
problem of the first and second pig’s
houses?
Lesson 3
□ Three Types of Bridge Structures
□ Arch bridge
□ Beam bridge
□ Deep-beam bridge
□ Basic components of all bridges: supports
and span.
□ Different types of bridges are put together in
ways to address the forces the bridge might
need to withstand.
□ How much weight can each bridge support
Investigation
□ Make a model of an arch bridge,
beam bridge, and deep-beam bridge
□ How much weight can each bridge
support?
□ In what direction did the parts of the
bridge move as it failed?
□ Can you think of any way to make the
beam bridge stronger?
Lesson 4
□ Guiding Question: How can we use
our knowledge of forces, stability,
different bridge types, our creativity,
and the Engineering Design Process to
design a strong, stable bridge?
Questions to Ask Yourself
□ How might you make your bridge
stronger than just paper?
□ What are the different ways to support
the span of a bridge?
□ How will you make your bridge stable?
Reflections
□ Do you want a high or a low score for
your bridge design?
□ Which parts of your bridge design
worked well? Why?
□ Which parts of your bridge design did
not work well? Why do you think so?
□ Did any bridge designs fail in the same
way? How did they fail?
Reflections
□ Were you able to improve your bridge
design?
□ How did you decide what to improve?
□ Which step of the Engineering Design
Process did you find the easiest? Why?
□ Which step of the Engineering Design
Process did you find the most difficult?
Why?
□ Which step do you think is the most
important?
Designing a Bridge
□ Work in pairs
□ Review bridges tested
□ How could these materials be used on
your bridge? craft sticks, string, tape,
paper clips
□ Guiding Questions when designing
your bridge
Guiding Questions When
Designing Your Bridge
□ How might you make your bridge
stronger than just paper?
□ What are the different ways to support
the span of a bridge?
□ How will you make our bridge stable?
Local Bridges
Martin Luther King Bridge
High Level Bridge
Veteran’s Skyway Bridge
Orange Road Bridge
Bridge at
Toledo Botanical Gardens