strong as newspaper! · 2020-06-22 · strong as newspaper! grade level: 3 -5 lesson overview:...

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Published by Discovery Education. © 2010. All rights reserved.

Strong as Newspaper!

Grade Level: 3 - 5

Lesson Overview:Architecture is a practical application of design and engineering, which utilizes applied math and scienceprincipals. In this lesson, students make a simple but strong structure from tubes made from rolled upnewspaper. Once constructed, students use weights to measure how strong their structure really is. At home,students will demonstrate their building skills to their parents and together they will construct more structuresout of newspaper for a different purpose.

Learning Objectives:Students will be able to:

work with a partner to construct a triangular pyramid out of sheets of newspaper use uniform weights to test their pyramid for strength discover applications in construction that use the same principle as their pyramid

Academic Standards:National Science Education Standards (SCES)

Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know aboutthe world (scientific knowledge). Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations.(p. 123)

Simple instruments, such as magnifiers, thermometers, and rulers, provide more information thanscientists obtain using only their senses. (p. 123).

Objects have many observable properties, including size, weight, shape, color, temperature, andthe ability to react with other substances. Those properties can be measured using tools, such asrulers, balances, and thermometers. (p. 127).

Technology used to gather data enhances accuracy and allows scientists to analyze and quantifyresults of investigations. (p. 148).

Benchmarks for Science LiteracyScientific investigations may take many different forms, including observing what things are likeor what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments.1B/E1*

Scientists' explanations about what happens in the world come partly from what they observe,partly from what they think. 1B/E3a



Measuring instruments can be used to gather accurate information for making scientificcomparisons of objects and events and for designing and constructing things that will workproperly. 3A/E3

Changes in speed or direction of motion are caused by forces. 4F/E1a

Time Frame: One 20-minute session to engage students and demonstrate the activity and a 50-minute sessionfor students to carry out the investigation.

Background for the Teacher:

Materials for the teacher:1. two or three full sheets of newspaper2. small pieces of Scotch® Tape or 3M™ Masking Tape3. demonstration table or floor

Materials for each pair of students: at least six full sheets of newspaper small pieces of masking tape table for floor space plastic bag or small tub string (50cm per group) weights (batteries, heavy washers, etc. Groups could share these if necessary.)

Classroom Activities:

Engage1. Ask students if anyone has ever been to the attic (or basement) of their house or seen parts of their

apartment that help hold the building up. How is it that some pieces of wood or metal can make a houseor building stand up and hold so much weight on the inside? How many have seen a house or buildingbeing built and noticed the framing or skeleton of the building before the outside or skin is added? Invitediscussion about why structures people build and live in are so strong. Are some structures stronger thanothers and why? What part do the materials play in this strength? Set a student chair on a front table andsuggest to students that this is a structure strong enough to hold up a student and even a teacher. In abrief discussion about the strength of the chair, students might bring up the fact that parts of it are madeof metal and metal is strong. If students don’t mention this, bring it up yourself as a lead-in to the nextpart.



2. Bring out a newspaper, open it up, and pretend to read it. Pull out one section and crumple it into a smallball and toss it aside. Ask students if they think a piece of newspaper could ever be strong enough tobuild something that would stand up on its own and even hold up some weight. Tell students they aregoing to get a chance to find this out in this lesson

Explain4. Using the same newspaper you pretended to read, pull out one page (a full sheet) and wave it in front of

students. See if students believe that this would be good for building anything. Lay the full sheet flat ona table and arrange students so they can watch you. Begin at one corner and carefully and tightly startrolling the sheet on the diagonal into a cylinder or tube. The tighter you roll the sheet, the stronger theresulting tube will be because of the number of layers of paper. When you reach the opposite corner, usea small piece of Scotch® Tape or 3M™ Masking Tape to secure the flap so the tube doesn’t comeunrolled. At this point, you should have a hollow cylinder or tube that’s about 85 cm. long and quitestrong.

Explore1. Ask students how many of these tubes would be needed to make a triangle and suggest that they work

with a partner to make three tubes. (For younger hands that might have some trouble rolling the tubetightly, it helps to begin rolling the newspaper around a pencil. When finished, the pencil can be pokedout of the tube with a long skinny object or slightly loosen the tube and it will fall out.)

2. When the team of two students has made three tubes, show them how to tape the ends of the tubestogether to form a triangle. Let them feel and hold the resulting triangle to see how strong it is. Cautionstudents that the tubes can be easily weakened it they are pushed from the side and bent; try to avoidthis. The team should make three more tubes so they can make a triangular pyramid. Using the originaltriangle as a base, tape the last three tubes to the vertices of the triangle then join the opposite endstogether at the top to complete the pyramid. Again, feel how rigid the structure is but be careful not tobend any of the tubes.

3. Next students should set their pyramid on a flat surface like the floor and tie a string to the top vertex,letting the string hang down inside the pyramid. Secure a plastic bag or small tub to the string so it issuspended above the floor. One at a time, add a battery or other weight to the bag or tub to see if thepyramid will support the weight. Continue adding weights to see how strong the pyramid is. Studentsneed not add so much weight that they destroy their structure. If the pyramid does collapse, allowstudents to make another.



Extend1. Students could try making the tubes with two sheets of newspaper instead of one. Does this modification

make the pyramid stronger? Built this way, does it support twice as much weight as the originalpyramid?

2. Once students have made a tube, have them wrap it lengthwise in a spiral with Scotch® Tape or 3M™Masking Tape. Does this change the strength of the tube and any structures made with the tubes? Doesthe design of the tape wrap affect the strength of the tube?

3. Build a cube from newspaper tubes. Will this cube be stronger, weaker, or the same in strength as thetriangular pyramid?

4. Students can be challenged to find examples of real structures that make use of the same designprinciples as their pyramids. (Examples could include bridges and attics that make use of trusses, gatesthat incorporate a diagonal support beam, etc.)

Evaluate1. How many line segments or tubes are needed to make a triangular pyramid?

2. What geometric shape is used in structures to make them light but strong?

3. Name two man-made structures that make use of triangles in their basic design.

Home Connections:Parent Background Information

1. Building structures is a fun and inexpensive way to allow children to explore engineering. A littlenewspaper and some Scotch® Tape or 3M™ Masking Tape will allow an upper elementary grade childto invent and build for hours on a rainy day! How can newspaper be used as a building structure?

2. The newspaper tube can be made using a full sheet of newspaper and a small piece of Scotch® Tape or3M™ Masking Tape. Lay the sheet on a flat surface and begin rolling it up from one corner towards theopposite corner. The tighter you roll the sheet, the stronger the tube will be. Secure the opposite cornerwith a piece of Scotch Tape™ so it doesn’t unravel.

Structures obtain their strength from the materials of which they are constructed and the way thosematerials are put together. Generally, building materials such as lengths of wood (2x4s), beams, posts,and rods are strongest along their length and will hold up to pressure better at the ends than when pushed



in the middle. A pressing-together force is usually referred to as compression and a pulling-apart force isreferred to as tension. The linear structural material your child made in school was a sheet of newspaperrolled into a tube*. The tube is amazingly strong in tension and compression, especially given the flimsynature of a sheet of newspaper. The tube is not strong however when pushed or pulled from the sides.Engineers and architects take advantage of this linear strength by joining three linear members in theshape of a triangle. With its base resting on a flat surface, a triangle can support a relatively large force,which is often referred to as a load. Combined in a variety of ways, triangles are the basic shape found innumerous manmade structures from roof trusses to railroad bridges.

Activities to do with your child1. Ask your child to show you how he/she made triangular structures at school out of newspaper tubes.2. Try building other shapes or structures using newspaper tubes: brides, towers, containers, etc.3. Use other building materials such as wood, plastic, or cardboard.4. If you have an attic or can see some of the cross beams in your building and can safely access the area,

take your child there to examine the truss sections that support the roof or support the floor. Look fortriangular sections and discuss how they make the roof stronger. Bridges also use this triangularstructure for support and it is often visible.

5. Use the Internet to research how structures are designed and built.6. Using one of several Scotch® Tapes wrap a tube with tape in a spiral shape to find out what this does to

the strength of the tube and any structures you might make with the tubes.

Scoring Key for Evaluate

1. You need six tubes to make a triangular pyramid or six line segments to form a triangular pyramid.

2. A triangle is used to make structures strong.

3. Most bridges and many house roofs are made using triangles in order to make them strong.

strong as newspaper! · 2020-06-22 · strong as newspaper! grade level: 3 -5 lesson overview:...

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