Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

The Task: Students will work in “companies” of five to design and build bridge models to bid on the job of building a new bridge in MA. Each bridge design must keep to a given budget and meet certain specifications, so students will need to apply financial literacy and design concepts.

My fourth grade students live in an urban, low-income city comprised largely of immigrant families.

Many of my students speak a language other than English at home. My students are always eager to learn, and enthusiastic about new and exciting learning opportunities, especially when it comes to real-world applications, because they gain knowledge that they can take home to their families. Developing financial literacy and business knowledge will benefit my students AND their families! The materials requested in this project will help my students learn how a business works--applying for a job, managing a budget, collaborating with a team to design and manufacture a product, and marketing the product. The financial literacy books and activities will help my students learn how to write checks and balance a checkbook and problem solve what to do in financial situations. They will also learn about the design process and apply that knowledge to understand the features of real-world bridges.

My Project

First, students will research and build K’NEX models of real bridges from around the world, in order to learn about the different types of bridges (arch, suspension, cantilever), their design and construction, and how geometry concepts and other features affect the strength of the different types of bridges. Next, students will form companies and take on the role of project manager, architect, accountant, marketing director, or construction manager. Each company will work with the same budget, which will cover all costs—salaries, supplies, consultant fees. Students will work together to determine the style of bridge they will design. The accountant be in charge of keeping the project within the given budget, the architect will draw the plans, and the project manager will make decisions about the types of materials being used. The construction manager will lead the team in constructing their model, while the marketing director prepares the bid presentation about their bridge.

By participating in this project, my students will develop the critical skills of collaboration, communication, problem solving, and budgeting, as well as the understanding of design, business, and financial literacy.

They will learn about the different aspects of a successful business: budgeting, design, construction/manufacturing, and marketing. Students will also apply the engineering design process as they design and construct their model bridge, and work with technology to 3D print pieces. My students need financial literacy books and activities, books about bridges, K'NEX bridge sets, and 3D printer filament to form companies to design bridges.