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Windy City Tower
New activity
Participants learn about lateral forces, strong building design, and wind tunnel testing as they plan out and make a paper tower that meets specific design constraints and withstands as much wind as possible without sliding or toppling over.
Open Activity
How-to Video
Family Take-home Activity
A take-home that can be sent with patrons that wish to do STEM activities at home. These at-home activities cover similar topic areas as the associated activity and could be handed out at the conclusion of a program or left on a circulation desk for patrons to take home.
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Rating
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Participants Enjoyed the ActivityParticipants Learned from This ActivityActivity Instructions Were Clear and Easy to FollowWould Recommend
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Reviews
Fun and engaging!
I tried this program with middle school students, and they found it challenging and fun. Being given a specific purpose (i.e. make a tower that supports a washer and doesn't blow over), combined with limited supplies (tape and paper), allowed them maximum creativity and challenged- in a good way- their engineering skills. There was a lot of discussion and comparison of tower designs, what worked and what didn't work, and several participants altered their designs based on those discussions as well as their observations of how other towers withstood the wind.
This activity is both simple enough for young participants (3-4 grade), yet complex and creative enough for older participants (5-6, 7-8).