Children see objects every day in the world around them. These things they see are taken for granted: Things such as bridges, roads, and even the roof above them. The purpose of this project is to allow children to learn about structural integrity. The y will learn which shapes support objects better than others. They will achieve this through the use of a building exercise in which they will compete to create the tallest structure that supports the Lion King atop Pride Rock. They will end up doing this in a manner that is fun, entertaining and has a theme to which kids can relate. There is a need that exists because if children learn at an early age how the things around them work, then they will be more curious and inquisitive when it comes to more co mplex ideas and principles.

Before starting the construction exercise, the children will be taught principles of structural integrity. They will compare the strengths of different shapes, through experimentation using of small beams interconnected through pin joints serving as bu ilding blocks.

The clients for our project include our class professor and the students which will participate in the activity as well as the teachers who will be administering the project.

The main problem that is to be addressed in this project is the fact that the children who will participate in the activity are unaware of the basics of structural integrity. Children are inquisitive by nature and would want to understand why structure s such as buildings and bridges stay up.

A concern which stems from the original problem is that teachers would have a difficult time explaining this to the students.

Our project intends to clarify the questions that children have every day about how buildings and other large constructions stand up. We also intend to create an easy way for teachers to show this to the students. By meeting these objectives we will give children a greater understanding of their every day questions concerning structural integrity.

We intend to solve the problem we have stated by giving the students a chance to do some hands-on work and some creative thinking. They will be given an objective and a few clues on how to meet that objective, but the rest is up to them. They will le arn structural integrity through their own successes and failures.

To start the exercise we will show the students a short demonstration on the structural strength of different shapes. We will give each student a few small members made of Plexiglas about the size of Popsicle sticks. These will be made by the LaserC AMM rapidprototyping process. Four of the members will be of equal length and two others will be the size of a diagonal if the other four members were made into a square. The students will also be given four small pegs to insert into the pin joins at th e end of each member.

The demonstration is intended to teach the students a little about structural integrity before the actual experiment begins. They will be asked to make a triangle out of three of the four equal length members and three pins. After the class has finis hed this, they will be asked to pull on the shape to see how it reacts. They will then be asked to make a square. They will give the square the same test. This will show that the square is not as sturdy as the triangle. A diagonal will then be placed on the shape, and it will undergo another test. This is a little stronger. Finaly, the second diagonal will be placed on the square, orthogonal to the previous diagonal, and a final strength test will be done. This demonstration will show that triangle s are much stronger than square when each member is not firmly connected (pin joint).

The students will then be paired off into groups to begin the experiment. The objective of the experiment is to build "Pride Rock" for the Lion King using small members (Ex. toothpicks) and joints (Ex gumdrops). The group that builds the ta llest "Rock" for the Lion King wins. This will teach the children more about structural integrity. The will attempt to build the tallest object right away using little structural intent, just as high as they can get. They will eventually find that this method fails, and will begin to build a stronger and wider base as well as cross beams and diagonals for strength. Thus, using this simple model, they will define and figure out the basic rules of structural integrity.

We plan to design the members needed for the demonstration of this by April 8th, and get the design to the LaserCAMM facility soon after that to have our parts made. Plexiglas dowels can be bought to finish the parts required for the demonstration. T he parts needed for the experiment will be bought during the same time frame, and a test will be made soon after that by a child of the similar age group as this project is intended.

*We will only need certain items depending on the age of the children.