TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Does It Work? Test and Test Again
Testing is critical to any design, whether it be in the creation of new software or building a bridge across a wide river. Despite risking the quality of the design, the testing stage is often hurried in order to get products to market....
Other
Whiting School of Engineering: Spaghetti Bridge
An engineering project where students construct a bridge from spaghetti and glue. Site includes guidelines, pictures, and movies of previous projects.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Building the Seed Cathedral
Architect Thomas Heatherwick shows five recent projects featuring ingenious bio-inspired designs. Some are remakes of the ordinary: a bus, a bridge, and a power station. And one is an extraordinary pavilion, the Seed Cathedral, a...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: The Effect of Bridge Design on Weight Bearing Capacity
This Science Buddies project asks that you identify different kinds of bridges, discover why they are built as they are, and then build three different bridges of your own out of balsa wood. See which one you think can bear the heaviest...
PBS
Pbs: Sesame Street: Science
A collection of interactives, videos, and documents on a variety science concepts.
PBS
Pbs: Nova: Super Bridge
Online companion to a NOVA program on bridges. Includes teacher resources, including a class activity through which students construct and test their own bridge,
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: The Design Process: Creating a Stronger Truss
This is an interesting project that explores which geometrical shapes make the strongest bridge truss structures. It is a good introduction to the engineering design process. You'll design three different trusses, and use online...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Bridges, Building and Breaking
Young scholars will design, build and test the load bearing capacity of a scale model bridge. They will explore types of bridges. Learn about forces that effect bridges. Make scale drawings. Grading rubric is included as is a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Bridging the Gaps
Middle schoolers are presented with a brief history of bridges as they learn about the three main bridge types: beam, arch and suspension. They are introduced to two natural forces - tension and compression - common to all bridges and...
Tech4Learning
Pics4 Learning: Images for Education: Bridges
A large collection of beautiful photos of various bridges from around the world! A visual reference for teachers and students. Browse through the examples, then click to enlarge.
Other
Nbi National Bridge Inventory Database Search Form
NBI National Bridge Inventory Database search form from Nationalbridges.com allows one to enter the information related to a specific rail line in order to acquire related bridge information.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Spaghetti Bridge
Civil engineers design and construct structures such as buildings, dams, and bridges. We can explore the field of engineering by making a bridge using spaghetti. This bridge is then tested based on the weight it can carry without breaking.
PBS
Pbs Teachers:paper Bridge
Investigate the forces acting on a support and make adjustments to give a bridge the strength to support its own weight (the dead load) as well as the weight of anything placed on it (the live load).
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Bridges
Through a five-lesson series that includes numerous hands-on activities, students are introduced to the importance and pervasiveness of bridges for connecting people to resources, places and other people, with references to many...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Straw Bridges
Working as engineering teams, students design and create model beam bridges using plastic drinking straws and tape as their construction materials. Their goal is to build the strongest bridge with a truss pattern of their own design,...
Library of Congress
Loc: Today in History: June 12: Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge
Read about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, the first steel-wire suspension bridge. This site, from American Memory, has a biography of John A. Roebling, the designer of the bridge, and many links to photographs of the construction...
University of South Florida
Fcat: Spaghetti Bridges: Teacher Notes
Students build bridges and test their strength to collect data and write an equation. The concept of slope is explored in this activity.
PBS
Wgbh: Building Big: Tunnels
A collection of resources about tunnels that includes basic facts about tunnels, challenges faced by tunnel diggers, famous tunnels from around the world, and a lab that helps you understand the kinds of forces that keep tunnels from...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Cost Comparisons
Students learn about the many types of expenses associated with building a bridge. Working like engineers, they estimate the cost for materials for a bridge member of varying sizes. After making calculations, they graph their results to...
Museum of the Moving Image
Museum of the Moving Image: 1996 Clinton vs. Dole
View presidential campaign advertisement from the 1996 election that included the slogans "Building a Bridge to the 21st Century" and A Better Man for a Better America". Features video clips, information about the candidates, and...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Bridge Building Bonanza: Which Design Wins?
In this activity, you build and test two types of bridges: a simple suspension bridge and a beam bridge. Which bridge design is stronger?
Scholastic
Scholastic: Building Bridges of Friendship
Learn how to build better friendships when you explore this resource. This site provides detailed games, activities, and other resources to help students learn about the importance of building relationships.
Read Works
Read Works: Bridging the Gap
[Free Registration/Login Required] An interview with AnnaSophia Robb, actress in the film Bridge to Terabithia, about themes within the movie. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Other
Bsi Education: Bridges and Tunnels
The Applied Science resource consists of practical activities that demonstrate the importance of standard procedures in scientific work. Students examine bridges and tunnels through a variety of activities.