Building skills for real-world problems and solutions - Florida Union Free School District

Three students are building a bridge-like structure out of balsa wood. Seward’s sixth-graders are taking on a civil engineering project in Mr. Pekny’s technology class.

Three students are building a bridge-like structure out of balsa wood. They started their creative and problem-solving journey in Bridge Designer, a free educational software resembling computer-aided design (CAD) that gives students an authentic, hands-on experience.

Using the program’s project setup wizard, they chose from a variety of bridge decks, elevations and support configurations; considered various constraints; and calculated load capacities and building costs. A teacher helps a student with a a wood structure

For the next two weeks, they will build a structural model of their highway bridge out of balsa wood. When complete, the bridges will be laid across a deep river valley—a 5-gallon plastic bucket—and tested for their load capacity, up to 5 pounds of gravel.

Crossing multiple STEM subjects, this kind of project-based, applied learning challenges students to ask questions and collaborate to find solutions to real world problems. Two students are building a bridge-like structure out of balsa wood.