Designing Straw Bridges

Recently the Creative Technologies/Design Thinking class completed a bridge challenge. The task challenged our intellect and design thinking. Partners worked together to complete research about the three types of bridges: suspension, arch, and beam. We were then given the following materials to work with:

• The base of the bridge (two blocks on each side) placed 40 cm apart

• 20 bendy straws

• 1 meter of masking tape

The rules were:

• Teams must use all the materials

• The straws can be cut in any way

• The competition winner will be able to hold the most pennies on the center of the bridge

• One team member may hold the sides of the bridge to keep the blocks stable

My partner Holt and I completed research on bridges before beginning the building process. This allowed us to decide on a design that would hold the most pennies. After completing research, we were encouraged to sketch our ideas before building.

We noticed early on that the bendy end of the straw would either make or break our projects, many students cut the bending ends off to use as support. In one group they made a suspension bridge and used the straws as a whole, using the bend to help displace the weight.

When asked about this project, junior Reid Blackmon said, “The rules had to be modified because the bases of the bridge kept falling. Changing the rules was frustrating and I wish we had known all of the parameters from the beginning.”

Senior Ash Herndon stated, “I like completing the design activities because they are challenging and competitive.”

Once all the bridges were complete, the competition began! The groups balanced a small container filled with pennies on their bridges. Each group worked to top each other’s penny counts. The competition got intense once one group topped 200 pennies. At that point someone noticed that we needed to hold the sides of the blocks to make the bridges more realistic.

Here are the results: