Mrs. Comen’s Classroom Edit display name

About my class

Charleston, South Carolina, is a peninsula city surround by many barrier islands. My students come to quickly understand how bridges affect everyday life and the importance of design and safety. My students participate in a design, plan, and build a bridge project. The project begins with the students researching the common styles of bridge design and how well they perform. The next step is to explore bridges located in the Charleston area. The students identify the design style of the bridge and how it was a good engineering choice for the type of environment and purpose. The students are introduced to the design challenge; they are to design a wooden bridge using common craft sticks, balsam wood, and wood glue that can withstand the greatest load when applied to the middle of the bridge's span. To get ready for their design and build, they must go through a series of steps. The student engineering teams must use their research to select the style of the bridge. They will then use the structural engineering kits requested in this project to look at possible design flaws by testing compression, stress, transfer of force, and load-bearing. They will use what they discovered to now design their team's bridge. My school provides a budget that covers the cost of crafts, sticks, and glue. The exciting concluding event is when they enter their bridge in Storm the Citadel, a STEM-based event.