School Staffroom
Staffroom gives school teachers guidance and resources for using Expedition Workshed to help teach Science, Maths, and Design and Technology. Workshed uses highly engaging visual stimuli to teach learners about engineering principles.
Originally conceived as a resource to support undergraduate teaching, many of its resources are equally appropriate for pre-university learners. In Staffroom you will find ‘Bridge Builders’, a teacher pack developed with the support of the Institution of Structural Engineers Educational Trust, which explores how the theme of bridge building can be used to teach components of the KS3 and KS4 Maths, Science, and Design and Technology curricula.
Related to the bridge building theme, you will find interactive workshops, as well as online fact files that link directly to resources on Workshed. These fact files can either be used in support of the workshops, or as stand-alone stimuli. If you have suggestions for how this area could be impoved then follow the link to our Staffroom Forum.
Bridge Builders Teacher Pack
Bridge building is one of the clearest and most eye-catching examples of the work that engineers do. The development of bridge design maps closely to technological, economic and social development and the development of interconnected societies; yet even as long ago as Roman times, engineers have been capable of building bridges at awe-inspiring scales.
The bridge building theme gives teachers the opportunity to teach about the application of Science, Mathematics, and Design and Technology.
This teacher pack gives guidance on how to use the resources on Expedition Workshed to base lessons and learning activities around the bridge building theme.
The activities are designed to be exciting and memorable, allowing students to use Workshed to access a range of interactive resources. The resource pack contains two core workshops, together with suggestions for complimentary activities that can be either used in isolation or in support of the workshops.
Download the pack here (PDF, 4.8 MB)
Bridge Building Competition
In this exciting group work activity, teams of students compete to build and test to destruction a bridge built from paper and string.
The student brief is to design and build a 1:100 scale model of a footbridge designed to span 120m. Teams must test their bridge by hanging weights from the centre of the span.
The team that builds the bridge that can support the greatest weight for the least use of materials is the winner.
The Bridge Building Competition requires a minimum of 1.5 hours to complete in a single session, but the workshop can be extended or broken up in order to build in additional activities.
Click here to download the Bridge Building Competition pack (PDF, 1.7 MB).
Bridge Investigation Project
In this project students carry out a research project about a particular bridge, using a range of different source materials, and present the findings of their research as either a photo slideshow, a short movie, or pod cast.
The student brief suggests three possible research topics:
- Choose one of the main types of bridge and tell the history of its design.
- Choose one of the main types of bridge and describe how the structure transfers loads from the middle of the span to the supports.
- Tell the story of a local bridge: when was it built; who built it and why; how is this bridge of benefit to the local community?
This activity can be carried out by individuals or by groups. The activity can be run as a competition in which the winners are the students judged to have produced the best presentation, as judged either by the teacher or their fellow students.
Download the activity pack (PDF, 780 KB)
Bridges Fact File
The Bridges Fact File is a downloadable PDF that can be used as a starting point for learning about the common bridge types.
Scroll over the images in the Fact File to link to interactive resources from Workshed and from elsewhere on the web.
The Bridges Fact File is a flexible resource: project it onto a screen to use it at the front of your class, or email your students the PDF so that they can explore for themselves.
Download the resource (PDF, 3.9 MB)
Interactive Bridges Map
You can’t understand and engineering structure without understanding the site where it is built.
Follow the links on our interactive Google map to find the bridge projects featured in the Bridge Builders Teaching Pack, workshops and interactive fact file.
Materials Fact File
The Materials Fact File is a downloadable PDF that can be used as a starting point for learning about the materials commonly used in bridge construction.
Scroll over the images in the Fact File to link to interactive resources from Workshed and from elsewhere on the web.
The Materials Fact File is a flexible resource: project it onto a screen to use it at the front of your class, or email your students the PDF so that they can explore for themselves.
Click here to download the Materials Fact File (PDF, 1.7 MB)