Engineering is the planning, designing, construction, improvement, or management of structures, products, machines, processes, and systems.

In the Engineering unit students will learn about designing and constructing structures. Students will have an opportunity to go through the entire design process that is used to create just about every idea into something real. Students will learn about the forces (physics) that act upon bridges and what can be done to counter these forces. Next the students will start designing their bridge using rough sketches. Picking three rough sketches, the student will then refine their ideas and will produce three final sketches. The final sketches are larger and show more detail. Each student will then get an opportunity to test their designs on a computerized structural stress-testing program to see which design is the best. Upon completion of the computer simulation, the student will then complete a full scale drawing of their model bridge meeting the criteria set by the instructor. After that, the students will construct one model bridge using the final drawing of their choice, twenty feet of wood, and glue. At the end of the engineering project, all bridges will be put on the bridge-testing machine to see how efficient each bridge is. Prizes are given to the student for the most efficient bridge in the school.
               

The students will use reading material, vocabulary words, study questions, videos, hands-on activities, computers and computer hardware to complete this work unit.

The Engineering unit will offer students an opportunity to:

• Learn about the different types of bridges and the forces and stresses that act upon them.
• Understand the importance of truss design used in bridge construction.
• Apply basic sketching, measuring, and drawing techniques.
• Construct a scale model of a wooden truss bridge to given criteria.
• Test the completed bridge for design strength and efficiency