Build Week 12: Bridges and Failure Modeling

Build Week 12 occurred last week and was a great example of the rich opportunities that lie within the challenge of a Build Week. The focus this time was on bridges and understanding the idea of “failure modeling.” The learners were placed in 3 person teams and given a Call to Action for a bridge prototype. Here’s one team’s Call to Action:

DEVELOP, DESIGN, AND CONSTRUCT A PROTOTYPE FOR A LONG-SPAN BRIDGE

Introduction: Your team’s goal is to design a prototype for a long-span traffic bridge to cross a one-mile-wide strait connecting a bay to an ocean. Your team is in competition. On Thursday, October 28th, your prototype will be tested for its strength to weight ratio. During this time, your team will also have to defend your engineering and structural choices and account for any future changes that have become evidently necessary through the failure modeling Research and Design process. Your prototype should be designed to carry approximately 100,000 vehicles/day. Your team should aim to both design and build the lightest and strongest prototype….

Build Week 11: Cardboard Boat Regatta 2.0

Build Weeks are an important part of life at Long-View, but the parameters of Covid presented many complexities and for over a year we were not able to gather together as a full community or in teams that crossed bands. But last week the teachers came up with a plan to safely pull off a Build Week. As always, the dates and project challenge of the upcoming Build Week were kept secret, and the teachers carefully crafted a “reveal” last Monday so as to provide a level of authenticity to the Build Week challenge and to deeply invest the learners in the work for the week.

On Monday morning, the first day of the yet-to-be-revealed Build Week 11, Campfire started off in a slightly unusual way….

Engineering Project: Rocket Launch

We use Pease Park daily and last week, the park's value reached new heights! Blue and Purple Bands tested learner-designed-and-built rockets, shooting the vessels high above Live Oak Meadow.

The rocket science unit began in January with both virtual Science Blocks and weekly in-person build workshops. During these build workshops the kids spread out in our parking lot, which served as our temporary, very-well-ventilated makerspace...or should we say, “The Long-View Jet Propulsion Research Facility”? The learners were studying astronomy and for their engineering project associated with this unit they learned about the physics of rockets….

2019 Long-View Cardboard Boat Regatta

It’s a quirky and fun annual tradition for us…the Long-View Cardboard Regatta. This tradition started as a Build Week but moved to a community activity that is jointly run by the kids and staff of Long-View. The challenge? Design and build a human-powered boat that can carry one crew member (“the captain”) to the middle of Lake Austin and back, navigating the regatta course along the way. The boat may only be made of cardboard and duct tape…

Build Week 9: An Enriching Endeavor

Build Week 9 began with an unusual sight: two yellow school buses parked outside of Long-View. The kids arrived bundled up for the sub-freezing weather and brimming with guesses about where the buses were headed. But the tight-lipped teachers weren’t about to let the cat out of the bag. Instead they ushered the kids inside to find the lanyards designating their team names.

All Hands on Deck: Biomechanics Engineering Challenge in Indigo Band

Problem solving is an integral part of the learning experience at Long-View, and Indigo Band learners are working on the unique, not to mention complex, endeavor of constructing a prosthetic hand that can handle (pun intended) the task of grasping and lifting a cup of sand with a weight of at least 200 grams. “One of the biggest challenges is that we have to design it using materials either from the Maker Space or from home,” says Esme. “Marin’s prototype is really impressive,” she adds. “She’s even thinking about connecting a motor to it!”