Duration: 45 minutes
SPIRIT Skills:
- Creativity
- Valuing people and nature
- Flexibility
- Problelm-solving
- Critical thinking
Brief Description
Students systematically test their bridge prototypes by adding load and observing performance. Based on test results, they redesign and improve their structures, creating a second version. After the first testing round, teams are intentionally reorganized. Students explain their designs, testing outcomes, and improvements to new teammates, allowing ideas and strategies to circulate across the group. This peer exchange strengthens evidence-based reasoning, communication skills, and flexible problem-solving.
How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills:
- Develops critical thinking by encouraging evidence-based evaluation of designs.
- Strengthens flexibility as students modify ideas based on test results.
- Reinforces problem-solving through iterative redesign.
- Supports resilience by framing failure as useful feedback.
- Encourages communication and connectedness through sharing results and explanations.
What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?
- Students test their bridge prototype using a clear and fair method.
- Students observe and describe how the structure reacts to added load.
- Students identify at least one weakness in their first design.
- Students redesign and build an improved second version of the bridge.
- Students explain what they changed and why, using observations as evidence.
- Students document their process through sketches, notes, or simple data.
Academic/Curriculum Objective connection
- Science: Observing cause–effect relationships between structure and load. Understanding stability through testing and comparison.
- Mathematics: Measuring span and counting or comparing weights added. Recording results in simple tables or diagrams.
- Technology and Engineering: Applying the engineering design cycle: test → analyse → improve.
- Language and Literacy: Using explanatory language to describe results and justify decisions.
Materials and tools needed for implementation
- Completed bridge prototypes from Stage 4
- Standardized test weights (small books, identical blocks, water bottles)
- Containers or markers to count added load
- Rulers or measuring tape
- Observation and redesign sheets
- Pencils or markers
- Board or flipchart for collecting class-wide observations
Preparation notes
- Decide on a standard testing protocol for all teams (same gap, same type of weight).
- Prepare enough identical weights to ensure fairness.
- Review safety rules, emphasizing that weights, not students, test the bridge.
- Prepare documentation sheets with clear sections: test results, changes made, why it improved.
- Plan time for both testing and redesign within the 45-minute block.
Guided Questions
Testing and Observation:
- What happens when we add weight here?
- Where does the bridge start to change or fail?
Analysis and Improvement:
- Why do you think it failed at this point?
- What is one small change that could make it stronger?
- How can we test whether that change really helps?
Documentation and Communication:
- How will you show what you changed?
- What evidence do you have that your design improved?
Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)
- What change made the biggest difference in your bridge?
- How did testing help you decide what to improve?
- Did your second version work better than the first? Why?
- What did you learn from another team’s design?
Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges
- Emphasize slow, careful testing rather than rushing to add weight.
- If teams feel discouraged, highlight partial success (e.g. “It held one more block”).
- Encourage teams to change one variable at a time for clearer results.
- Support students who struggle with writing by allowing diagrams or labelled sketches.
- Keep sharing brief and focused to leave time for redesign.
- Reinforce that improvement, not maximum load, is the key success indicator.