Build-a-Structure Challenge

Unit Context

Unit: Designing Structures and Solutions (Lesson 8 of 12)
Grade: 3rd Grade
Duration: 30 minutes
Class size: 30

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Apply knowledge of forces (push and pull) and shapes to construct a stable bridge or tower using chosen materials.
• Demonstrate understanding of stability and structural strength through hands-on construction.
• Collaborate and communicate reasoning behind design choices clearly and creatively.

Standards Alignment

Common Core State Standards – Science & Engineering Practices (NGSS Correlation):

• 3-5-ETS1-2: Develop and use a model to describe a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• 3-5-ETS1-3: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Common Core State Standards – ELA (Speaking & Listening):

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an