Students will participate in an inquiry-based experiment in which they will design and construct a wooden bridge that can support as much weight as possible given size constraints. A reading self-assessment will be given to students prior to module implementation. The data gained from the assessment was use to assign "literacy partners" for the purpose of reading and understanding a journal article later in the module. A copy of the assessment can be found under the uploaded resources.
The process requires students to work in teams to define the purpose, develop a hypothesis, design the experimental procedure,collect and analyze data, and make conclusions. They will write a formal lab report that is analogous to a peer-reviewed journal article in terms of format. Throughout the module,students will perform 2 web quests, closely read vital components in a peer-reviewed journal article, respond to a video, perform a hands-on engineering activity, collaborate with a team of peers, and write a high level laboratory report. Students will refer to the teaching task when completing daily mini-tasks. In order to facilitate learning how to properly write a legitimate scientific paper, students are provided with a variety of supports including graphic organizers and talking points. Many of these organizers were created by the author of this module.
When teaching this module, the teacher should be cognizant of practices that encourage student engagement and cooperation with each other. Many tasks are structured as team activities.
This module can also be adapted for use in a CTAE class due to the hands-on nature of the module.
