The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.Copyright © 2001
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If at first you don't succeed. Try, try again!
Have you ever built a tower - out of sand, or blocks, or soda cans? Did you keep building it, taller and taller until it fell down, only to start again and built it just a little bit taller the next time?
Almost everyone has been a 'trial and error' engineer at some time, but a good engineer must also be a good scientist, combining your experiments in building with careful observation of results!
In Takes Two to Topple, students use trial-and-error testing along with observation to build a hypothesis on the principles behind structural balance.
With In Straws We Trussed, students experiment with structural design in the construction of a pin-and-beam truss, directly observing the concepts of tension, compression, buckling and strength of structural elements.
The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc.