Using Picture Books to Teach Science
Synopsis of Lesson: This lesson will focus on the engineering
achievements of bridges. The lesson is built around the 5 E model of
teaching science. (See attachment) Students will be engaged by the
trade book, Iggy Peck, Architect, by Andrea Beaty. This is the story of
a second grader who loves to build things. He builds constantly until
his teacher forbids it. He wins her over by building a bridge and
saving the day on a class field trip. Students will be challenged to
build a bridge. They will test materials to see which materials would
be best for building. The bridge they build will be constructed using 10
craft sticks and 50 cm of masking tape It will span a distance of 15 cm
and hold the weight of 50 pennies.
To begin the lesson, have pictures of bridges looping on a
PowerPoint. Students will be able to see bridges of various styles and
built from different materials. (This could be done at the beginning of
the day or at the beginning of the lesson.)
Engage:
Show students the cover of Iggy Peck, Architect. Use reading
strategies such as noting the author and illustrator. Look at the cover
and infer what the book is about. Ask students if they know what an
architect does. (They may know that architects are involved in
designing buildings.)
Read the book aloud, and then ask students what kinds of materials
Iggy Peck used to build the structures in the book (chalk, pancakes,
dirt, etc.)
Then ask how Iggy used his building expertise to solve a
problem and win his teacher over. Ask students if they like to build
things like Iggy Peck. If so, what materials have they used to build
something? (Turn and talk)
Explore:
Just like Iggy Peck, the students are going to be challenged to
build a bridge. Tell the students, they must build a bridge that will
span a 15 cm gap and hold 50 pennies. The students have some
©sandyhallpalmer 2013
materials that they have to work with to determine the best choice for
building materials that could be used to construct the bridge. The
materials are paper, straws, craft sticks, string, or uncooked
spaghetti. They will be able to use masking tape to connect the
pieces of whichever material they determine to be the best building
material.
Tell students that it is important to think hard about a material’s
properties, like how strong or flexible it is, before you use it to build
something.
As a class, they will determine the strongest material by testing
the materials and recording their findings in a chart. (See chart
attached.) The materials can be pulled, pushed, bent, and twisted.
Give each student or group of students a piece of paper, straw, string,
craft stick, and piece of spaghetti. Test each material as a class by
having each student pull the material from both ends, push it together
with both hands, bend it, and twist it. Vote as a class rating the
materials as weak, sort of strong, or very strong. Record each
material’s rating in the appropriate column.
*I probably wouldn’t be able to help myself here, but to pull in the story of The
Three Little Pigs. This could be good to tie in during the reading block again.
Explain:
Ask students which material they think is best suited for building
a bridge and why. They should be able to use evidence from the data
table to show that the craft stick was the only material rated “strong”
for all of the tests.
Each pair of students should have 10 craft sticks and 50 cm of
masking tape. Once they have their materials, allow them 10-15
minutes to build the bridge. The bridge has to span 15 cm (use
textbooks, dictionaries, etc. to make a span for the bridge) and hold
50 pennies (they could be in a roll or small paper cup). After the
bridges are built, have students test to see if it will hold the 50
pennies. If not, allow them time to modify their design and test again
until they are successful.
After all the testing is over, you could pull the PowerPoint of
bridges back in to explain that most bridges are built of concrete and
metal, because they are strong materials.
Elaborate or Extend:
Revisit the picture of Iggy’s bridge in the book Iggy Peck,
Architect. Tell students the type of bridge Iggy built is a suspension
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bridge. Show students pictures of suspension bridges (The Golden
Gate Bridge or The Sunshine Skyway in Florida). Explain that many
bridges are built of a combination of materials. Tell students you are
going to build a model of a suspension bridge to show how a
combination of materials with different properties can be used to
make a bridge stronger.
Build a suspension bridge between two chairs using the
instructions from the PBS Building Big website (see attachment).
*Before adding the cables (strings), test to see how much weight the
straw bridge can hold on its own by hanging a cup in the center of the
bridge with a paper clip. Fill the cup with pennies until the straw gives.
Reassemble the bridge with the cables like in the instructions
and test the strength again by adding pennies to the cup. Students
should be able to see that the bridge can hold more weight with the
combination of the building materials.
EXPLAIN that the strings are being pulled, and the straws are
being pushed. Both of them help carry the weight making the bridge
stronger. The string was rated weak for pushing and bending, but it
was rated strong for pulling and twisting. The string is ideal for the
cables in this model.
Evaluate:
Possibilities….
 You could have them build a bridge of their own with a rubric for
a project grade.
 Have students write an essay about the process of building the
bridge including an explanation of their building materials and
properties.
 My choice is a CRISS strategy…
Have them use a RAFT to write an article about building bridges.
RAFT is an acronym for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic with a
strong verb. (See attachment).
©sandyhallpalmer 2013
R
A
Architect
A city council meeting about building a bridge to
span Choctawhatchee Bay.
Speech/ Presentation with drawing.
Present your idea for the bridge that you have
designed and explain why it should be chosen as
the design to span Choctawhatchee Bay.
F
T
This lesson was adapted from the “Teaching through Trade Books”
Bridges and Skyscrapers article of Science and Children December
2012 edition.
Standards addressed in this lesson are:
English/Language Arts
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Kindergarten standards require students to “with prompting and support,
ask and answer questions about key details in a text.”
Grade 1 standards state that students are able to “ask and answer
questions about key details in a text.”
Grade 2 standards require that students “ask and answer such questions
as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding
of key details in a text.”
Grade 3 students are expected to “explain how specific aspects of a text’s
illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g.,
create mood, emphasize aspects of a character of setting).”
Grade 4 standards ask students to “make connections between the text of
a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying
where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the
text.”
Grade 5 standards ask students to “analyze how visual and multimedia
elements contribute to meaning, tone, or beauty of a text.”
Writing across all content areas is emphasized with the common core, as
seen by standard statement 10 which begins in grade 3 and states that
students should “write routinely over extended time frames (time for
research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting
or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
K-2 science standards include that materials have different properties and
are therefore suited for different purposes.
3-5 science standards included are that forces on an object have both size
and direction and that balanced forces can provide an object with stability.
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The core idea for K-2 engineering is that there are multiple ways to solve a
problem and it is important to test different solutions.
The core engineering idea for 3-5 is that the success of a designed
solution has to do with how well it meets the criteria.
Suspension Bridge Activity is from PBS “Building Big” Educator’s Guide. The
whole website is amazing!!!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/educator/act_suspension_ho.html
©sandyhallpalmer 2013