Da Vinci's Bridge Day 1 and 2

This lesson is part 1 of 2. This lesson is set up to have students explore the friction bridge designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. Students first discover the inventor and become familiar with his life, inventions and the bridge itself. I use this part of the assignment to support ELA, there are other built in opportunities to support other core classes as well. Students can build DAY 1 if they finish the small bit of research. Day two allows them to explore, taking turns trying to build longer and longer bridges by finding better practices and skills.

I provide balsa sticks, but have done this with pencils, chopsticks, twigs, etc. The smaller the stick, the more difficult the build.