Science · Grades 5–6 and 7–8
A paper bridge that holds a book
A paper bridge your child made that holds a book, and the test that proves which shape is strongest.
Your child lays paper across a gap between two book stacks, flat, rolled and folded, tests each with the same book, and counts the coins the best one holds. At 7–8 they design their own.
- Grades 5–6 and 7–8
- 60 min
- A printout
- On the screen
Free to sign up.
Is it a good fit?
- Ready if Your child can fold paper evenly and count to fifty.
- Too much today? The 5–6 level: three shapes compared.
- Too easy? The 7–8 level: a design of their own, tested against the best.
What your child practises
- A fair comparison
- Counting a result
- Designing with a reason
“The zigzag held it because the folds stand up like little walls.”
If your child says something like this, in their own words, the idea has landed. Finishing the rounds means they took part; this is the learning.
Your part
- Lend a few books for the stacks and a small paperback
- A handful of coins, counted back
- Two sittings
What you need
From home
- Sheets of printer paper
- Books for two stacks the same height
- A small, thin paperback book, the load
- A ruler, 30 centimetres long
- Tape
- Coins, all the same kind (small parts)
The steps
Grade 5–6
Make two stacks of books the same height. Leave a gap of 20 centimetres between them: measure it with the ruler.
Make two stacks of books the same height. Leave a gap of 20 centimetres between them: measure it with the ruler.The other 4 steps, each with its painting, are in the Family portal.
It must pass: One of your three one-sheet shapes holds the book, and you compared all three.
Grade 7–8
- Make two stacks of books the same height. Leave a gap of 20 centimetres between them: measure it with the ruler.
The other 5 steps, each with its painting, are in the Family portal.
It must pass: Your own two-sheet design holds the book and more coins than your best one-sheet bridge, or you can say why it did not.
Safety
Coins are small enough for a toddler to swallow: count them back into a cup at the end. Keep the book stacks low and on the table, so they cannot topple onto anyone.
Where the facts come from
More like this
The full design
What it is
Two stacks of books 20 centimetres apart, and a sheet of printer paper that must carry a small book across the gap. Laid flat, it sags. Rolled into a tube or folded into a zigzag, the same sheet can hold it. Your child tests three shapes with the same book and counts how many coins the best one takes before it falls. The screen shows one step at a time as a painting of that step and asks at the end.
How it goes
One step fills the screen: the painted plate of that step, the words under it, and two buttons. Done this step moves on. Too hard, skip it also moves on, and the finish says how many were skipped without dressing it up. At the end, Show asks what is true (the flat one sagged, the zigzag was strongest), and What I learned asks the band's question.
The Pet
Asks at each step: "Folds the long way, stack to stack. Same book." Notices: "The zigzag tested. Three shapes, one sheet each." Remembers across the two sittings. A bridge that falls is a result, and the Pet says so.
By band
5 to 6: the flat sheet, the tube and the zigzag, one sheet each, the same book on each, then coins on the strongest. 7 to 8: the same three, then a design of your child's own from two sheets at most, with a reason it should be strongest, tested with coins against the best of the three.
What it grows
The engineering standards ask for fair tests that improve a design by Grade 5 and for evaluating competing designs against criteria in middle school. One sheet, one book and a gap make the comparison exact, because only the shape changes.
Done, and what counts as evidence
Done = the steps done or honestly skipped, and one line chosen at the end. The evidence is the comparison: the same sheet and the same book, only the shape changed, and a count for the best. At 7 to 8, a design with a stated reason, tested against a rival.
What's personal
The counts and your child's answers are stored as their answer, not as a mark. Nothing about your home is stored. A material you do not have is named once, a substitute is offered, and the project carries on.