1.What is the engineering principle that the children will learn?

    Children will learn three things from this project: force as caused by fluids, properties of structural reinforcement, and the concept of "failing quickly." The first two are obviously basic premises of engineering. The third is a more revolutionary concept introduced in 39-245. It means that it is better to have a design fail quickly, and in turn learn quickly how to fix it, than to get far along in the design process without testing and find out that your concept is faulty.

2.What is the activity?

    The basic concept behind our idea is the design and manufacture of a water dam. We will allow children to build dams using three basic formats. One will be with Legos (c). The other two will be based making the walls of the dam curved, which will either increase or decrease the maximum amount of stress the dam can withstand.

3.What age group is the activity designed for?

    This activity is probably appropriate for any child old enough not to eat the building blocks. This would cut the age range off at about 8 years. It would also, of course, be fun for adults, too.

4.What will the children do and how will they learn by doing your activity?

    The children will build a damn out of the given building blocks. They will have several choices to make. The first will be which basic platform to use (straight blocks, curved towards water flow, or curved away from water flow). The strongest design would be to use blocks which are curved towards the flow of water.
    The second choice will be how to organize the structure. The strongest design (as we know from out coursework in engineering) would be one with a wide base which gets thinner as height increases. This is because water pressure increases with depth.

5.What will be in the activity box? If appropriate, include a sketch of the activity.

    The material should include a few sets of blocks of different shapes. As many supports for each dam, and a canal or a valley In which to put the dam. the canal can be filled with a bucket. Also some instructions of how to build each dam would be appropriate.

6.How does your activity meet the requirements given above?

    The construction of dams is very popular in civil engeneering. The kids will see that some designs are more efficient than others, if the dam withstands the pressure or not, the design is good or it isn't. If the canal is not too big, it can easily be transported in a car.