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Spaghetti Tower Challenge

Grade: 4

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Materials	Estimated Time	Standards
Materials 100 mini marshmallows, 8 regular marshmallows, 1 box (340g) of spaghetti, 8 linguine noodles, 1 lasagna noodle	3 hours for actual building plus time for planning and testing	4.G.1-Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles (right, acute, obtuse), and perpendicular and parallel lines. Identify these in two-dimensional figures. 4.G.2: Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. Recognize right triangles as a category, and identify right triangles.

Assessment Ideas
Formative: Teacher questions students to determine if they can identify right angles, acute angles, obtuse angles, parallel and perpendicular lines.	Summative Rubric

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Driving Questions / Scenario (what are we trying to solve or improve?)

You are an engineer and you’ve been asked to build the tallest tower possible out of the materials given. Your tower must be sturdy enough to stand up by itself, even when put under a wind test.

Project Summary

Students will construct a tower as high as possible using spaghetti,

lasagna noodles and marshmallows.

Limited supplies of materials are available.
Pieces of spaghetti can be broken into desired lengths.

Note: Please make sure students have been introduced to the engineering process: Links here

Also a link to introductory lesson for any robot that is being utilized.

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Day One - Overview

Start of Lesson

Teacher gives an overview of the engineering process.
Key questions: What is an engineer? What does an engineer do?
Teacher introduces the task and materials
Consider a hook here (engaging students immediately in topic)

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Ask: _15_ min

Day One-Three

How can we use the materials provided to construct a tall tower, but keep in mind that it must be sturdy as well as it will be exposed to a simple wind test?
What types of lines can we include in our design to make it structurally sound? (parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting)

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Imagine: _15_ min

Day One-Three

It will be important to do your research, use your schema on forces and structures, make a plan and carefully build and modify your tower while adhering to strict timelines (a maximum of 3 hours will be given for the construction phase)! Teamwork will be the key to success!!

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Plan: _30_ min

Day One-Three

Step 1- Do research on tower building to gain a better understanding on how to build a tall, strong and sturdy tower.

Step 2- On the paper provided, design a plan for your tower, being neat, organized and

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Create: 3 hours

Day One-Three

Step 3- Using the materials provided, construct your tower, using teamwork.

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Improve:

Day One-Three

Step 4- Modify/change the construction of your tower as your team continues to work.

Step 5- Have your tower ready to be measured for height and tested against wind!

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Final Day- Closure

Please Consider doing one of the following:

Students can share out their project on an online portfolio/website, such as Seesaw
Tweet out pictures to #MCSSTEM
Post your results here. List the tallest tower your students made. Check back to see the results of other classes.
Blogging

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Content Curriculum Connections

ELA: Students write a summary/reflection of the project. How could you have engineered your tower differently? What was the biggest challenge you faced making your tower? What made the tallest tower successful?

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Extension Ideas

In case teachers want to spend more time on the process/extend the project.

Collect the heights of all towers. Students can create graphs that display the data. Analyze the data to determine the median, mode, and range.
Skype or have civil engineers and architects come in to talk to the class about things they have to consider when building tall structures, such as wind, foundation, etc...