The pieces are made from a durable plastic. They could be made with either cybercut of lasercam. The cards themselves will be plastic coatted, to provide support to the structure.
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Project : To build a structure made completely out of one deck of cards and 10 of the octagonal pieces shown here. Also some additional pieces which will be half of the octagon will be given to help support the bottm of the structure. The structure must be self supporting. The point of the structure is to support a given amount of weight. This weight and the height of the structure can vary with the age of the children. Making this adaptable for all age groups.
The pieces are made from a durable plastic. They could be made with either cybercut of lasercam. The cards themselves will be plastic coatted, to provide support to the structure. |
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Two princiles will be taught during the exercie. The concpet of basic statics is a portion of the activity. The children must build a structure capable of carrying a certain load. They must carefully balance the cards and use there support pieces carefully in critical areas.
The principle of engineering design is one that is not explicitly taught in many classes. This exercise teaches children how to let there design adapt to meet new challeneges. The children are able to build something and watch it fail, therefore they are capable of modifying there design to make the structure stronger. With continuous iterations the children will be shown how to make modifications and adapt the design.
The children will be devided into smaller teams so that no child is ever left idle, yet at the same time the children are working in teams which will promote cooperation with in the group. The challenge can almost be seen as a competition. The children are trying to beat the force of gravity and support the weight with merely a deck of cards and a few other pieces.