Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Structures and Forces Unit Plan
Structures and Forces Unit Plan
A. Introduction
If we were to rebuild the Viaduct today, could we improve upon the original design? This
is our guiding question for the grade 7 Structures and Forces unit. We chose this question
because the bridge is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Lethbridge. This
bridge held world records, it was cutting edge at its time and a marvel of human engineering.
Now over 100 years later the bridge is still being used daily and remains an iconic structure in
the area.
We decided to focus on bridges for this unit because they are likely a structure that many
students take advantage of but never really think about. Showing them the complexities and
variety of options that must be considered when building a bridge allows the students to
appreciate them more as they drive by and think about some of the science that went into the
design and the construction. Showing the students the materials used and their properties, along
with the variety of different designs and how each may affect the environment, purpose, and
safety of the bridge makes it relevant to their everyday lives. It is through this exposure that we
are able to directly tie the study of bridges with the field of science as well as tying in many other
Curriculum Map
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
B. Rationale
Students interact with structures throughout their lives. Whether its the houses they live
in, the bridges they cross, the school they attend, or the vehicles they use. What they may not
realize is that structures also exist within ourselves and other organisms. Exposing students to all
of these different structures and analyzing their materials, design, and purpose allows students to
understand how they stand up to the forces imposed upon them. We can then relate the forces we
examine to the structures that they have been exposed to so that they are more than simply
Structures and Forces fits well within the course as it can be related to all of the other
units that have or will be studied that term. With Interactions and Ecosystems, you can discuss
the impact structures may have within different environments and how these factors need to be
addressed while planning that structure. For example, how will placing a bridge across a river
affect the ecosystem? Plants for food and fibre allows us to study the structure of these plants
and to identify the key characteristics of plants that enable them to thrive in their environment.
An example of this would be studying wheat and seeing how its structure allows it to grow tall
while supporting the weight of its seeds at the top of it. Heat and Temperature can be related in a
few different ways. Firstly, you can examine the effect that different heats and temperatures
have on different materials that can be used. Secondly, the introduction of friction and how it
relates to heat can foster interesting discussions between the two units. Finally, Planet Earth
allows us to look at the large-scale structures that occur naturally around the world and
discussing the ways in which the natural world can affect the structures we build.
The above examples that have been provided are simply a snapshot into the bridges that
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
can be built between the units within the grade 7 curriculum. Not even mention the connections
that can be made to other courses past grade seven. Many of these cross-curricular connections
This unit plan addresses the key elements of scientific education in that it starts with the
history of bridges, and the materials that they were built with, progressing to discuss the
changing world and the evolving needs that have arisen, moving on to explain how bridges have
evolved over time, whether by changing the design, materials, or both to meet the needs of the
time. The students get to witness the transition from wood and stone bridges to the modern day
steel and cement bridges we see today and understand why these changes have taken place. The
labs that the students are going to be exposed to along with the project that they will design gives
students the opportunity to appreciate the Nature of Science as they hypothesize different
strengths of materials or how the same material can be used. Throughout the unit, students will
be exposed to a variety of new scientific terms that build upon their pre-existing scientific
Our unit plan will engage students in deep thinking by forcing them to first understand
why a variety of structures are built the way they are, in particular, the Lethbridge Viaduct. They
then take this understanding and are asked to improve upon it which requires them to question
different tactics that were implemented in the original design suggest improvements. The
students then need to physically build a structure so they are required to put their learning to the
In discussing the Key questions of our unit plan, once we have touched on an assumption
being made, or a question being asked we will not repeat it in the further discussions of questions
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
posed later in the course in an interest to not get repetitive in our explanations.
Some of the key questions we will address within the first lesson will be focused on
where this unit will be headed, as well as pre-assessing the class to determine the level of
knowledge that we are working with. We will be introducing the project today so the majority of
the questions will revolve around the project and how we are going to get there. Some of the
simple questions that will be answered will be What is a Structure? What is a Force? Why are we
We are assuming that the students have some knowledge about building structures from
grade 3, including the effectiveness of the various materials and designs for their intended
purpose, and the ability to evaluate the suitability of different materials and designs in a building
task. It is also assumed that the students are able to collaborate and work well within teams as
their project will be a team based exercise so they will need to use appropriate language and
formats for expressing their ideas. It is also assumed that the students have the skills to identify
the problem being addressed in the project and being able to create a plan to go about creating a
new design.
Students will need to understand that some of the differences in design or materials that
we look at have to do with the different cultures and their influence on science. Also important
to note that the observations made in class are going to be theory-laden and influenced by what
you have been exposed to individually. It should be noted that technology will also have
influenced the different designs around the world and through time. Most importantly an
emphasis will be made on the creativity that influences all aspects of building a structure.
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
This question allows for cross-curricular links to be made within Art and English
Language Arts as the students are able to draw the different types of bridges that they have
encountered within their own experiences as well as write about them to support their ELA
objectives.
This is where we really get to start going on the content, starting to discuss the different
structures over time, and how different cultures have developed their structures. We also discuss
the fact that structures arent only man made, there are structures within us and within nature that
are to be studied and learned from. This will bring about key questions like: Why werent
bridges made with steel earlier on? Why is there such a different style between southern and
northern European bridges? What were early bridges used for? What material was chosen for
the Viaduct and why? What do we use to build bridges today? What can we use bridges for in
In doing this we are hoping that students are able to relate back to grade one when they
were taught to identify the different components in a model that they constructed and identify the
corresponding components in a related object or model. They also should recall how to evaluate
the suitability of different materials and designs for different tasks from grade 3. It will be
expected that students are familiar with compiling and organizing data and observations along
with identifying potential applications for their observations. They should also be able to
evaluate different designs and prototypes in terms of function, reliability, safety, efficiency, use
It is important for the students to understand that scientific knowledge relies heavily on
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
observations, experiments, rational discussions and some amount of skepticism. There is no one
way to do anything, and that even though there are laws in science, theories remain theories even
This lesson allows us to travel back through time exploring the realm of social studies,
talking about the conditions at points in time through history and how that environment fostered
different designs and purposes. For example, we always think of bridges as fixed structures that
take ages to be built, however, in WW2, they had mobile bridges that would drive around to
allow tanks, trucks, and troops to cross areas safely, then pick itself up after them and carry on.
For the remainder of our sub-questions, we will discuss the direction we are taking with
them but wont dive into the assumptions, cross-curricular works, its relation to the Nature of
Science.
This allows us to go beyond the idea of man-made structures and look at the structures
found within ourselves as well as the structures that we see in nature. We are able to ask the
class about the relationships that they can see between nature and man-made objects as well as
some of the challenges with replicating natural structures with man made material and
technology. For example replacing a human bone with a steel one? What are the pros and cons?
We have already discussed some of the materials within the first few lectures, but here we
get to discuss the different strengths and weaknesses of materials. Students get to consider
things such as the weight, availability, workability, and practicality of a variety of materials. For
Students get to experience first hand the different strengths and weaknesses of different
materials. They get to experience how materials hold up against tensile force compared to shear
force etc. This hands-on experience allows them to ask the questions of why do materials react
the way they do to these forces? What makes a material have a strong resistance to tensile forces
but weak to shear forces? Where do we see these materials in real life?
Students are exposed to a variety of different forces and get to see where they exist within
the real world. They get to understand the role that friction has in our everyday lives and the
limitations it places upon science. Students get to better understand the variety of forces that act
upon the structures found within nature as well as the forces exerted on the structures that we
have built. This brings about questions like, why isnt the Lethbridge Viaduct a suspension
bridge? What forces are exerted on the Lethbridge Viaduct that makes the current design
successful?
If we were to rebuild the Viaduct, could we improve the original design? This question
allows us to dive into the majority of the GLOs and SLOs within our unit at great depth. GLO
1: Describe and interpret different types of structures encountered in everyday objects, buildings,
plants and animals; and identify materials from which they are made. This GLO, and its
corresponding SLOs, are carried throughout every lesson within our unit. These themes are
central to the idea of improving the original design of the bridge because you must first
understand what and how the bridge was made before you can consider improvements. GLO 2:
Investigate and analyze forces within structures, and forces applied to them is the GLO that is
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
least represented by our question. To improve the design you need to understand the forces
present within the original and how they work, however in the way that we have designed the
lessons they focus less on doing the hard calculations and more on the big picture ideas. This is
supported by our labs. The Building structures with different materials and the second lab
consisting of a variety of stations are both more qualitative explorations of science than
quantitative. The first is a hands-on lab which demonstrates the different strengths of materials,
by building a similar structure and the station activities allows students to experience and
understand the different forces, such as tension, friction, and compression. Both quantitative and
qualitative qualities of Structures and Forces will be assessed within the quiz and unit final.
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
C. Resource List
a. Scientific Resources
b. Teaching Resources
http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b682/pdfs/Science%207/Structures%20and%20Forces%20T1-2.pdf -
This is a link to Unit 4 of MHR Discovering Science 7, which is the book we chose to use. The
chapter has lots of information and activities to implement in the classroom.
c. Activities/Apps
ideas on how they can construct something of their own, be it a bridge or something else.
http://engagingstudents.blackgold.ca/index.php/division-iii/sci-d3/science-7/unit-d/ - This is a
resource from Black Gold Regional Schools. It contains a variety of resources for each part of
the unit covering the topics of Types of Structures, Describing Structures, Mass and Force,
Forces, Loads, Stress, How structures fail, Designing with forces and stable structures
D. Timeline/Structure
Topic & Curriculum Key Concepts
Timeline (1 Assessment Foundational
Text Reading/ Cross-
class/block) Inquiry Sub- For (f) Concepts: Nature of
Knowledge Resources Activities Homework Curricular
unless question Skills* Attitudes** Of (o) Science/FNMI/
(STS) (tentative) Connections
otherwise As(a) History of Science
stated
Introduction to If we were to 7-D1.1 IP IS, Sa Bocknek (2008) - Video Additional KWL Chart (f)
Unit rebuild the - Introduce question and inquiry Reading 266 269
Viaduct, could project and form groups
Reading for next
we improve the
- KWL Chart class
original design?
271-181
Different types How have 7-D1.3 & 4 IP, PR, IS, MR, C, http://www.learn - Discuss different types of Reading for next Social Studies Exit Slip (a, f) FNMI
of structures designs of CT Sa alberta.ca/conte structures class ELA History of Science
bridges changed nt/wonbt/html/in dex.html 282 285
- Tipi Activity
over time and
Bocknek (2008) - Exit Slip
purpose?
Bridge 7-D1.2 & 3 IP, PR, IS, MR, Sa https://www.you - Discuss the history and change Art Drawings (a, f)
Variation AI, CT tube.com/watch ?v=j- bridges have undergone ELA
zczJXSxn w - Drawing activity
- Journal Activity
Plant and To what extent 7-D3.4 IP IS, MR, Sa https://www.you - Discussion about insects and Reading for next Art Drawings (a, f) History of Science
Animal do we see nature tube.com/watch ? their exoskeleton class ELA NOS
Structures in man made v=opmulttvkOk - Discussion of human skeletons 286 289
structures?
Bocknek (2008) - Connection to buildings
- Design a building that is
supported from the outside and
the inside
Materials What needs to be 7-D3.2 IP IS, MR, Sa - History of Materials Pre-Lab for Forces Math 3,2,1 Activity (a, f) NOS
considered when - Tie back to types and variations Lab
choosing a - Group projects discussion of
material? materials
- 3,2,1 Activity
Testing What are the 7-D3.1 & 3 IP, PR, IS, SI, C, - Building Structures with Lab Worksheet ELA Lab worksheet
strength Lab pros and cons of AI, CT Sa Different Materials Lab
(f, a, o)
(2 classes) different building
materials?
Intro to Forces What types of 7-D2.1 IP, PR IS, SI, Sa https://www .youtube.co - Forces brainstorm -Discussion Review for Quiz Math Brainstorm (f, a)
forces need to be m/watch?v= 8iKhLGK7H about forces and units of force
considered in Gk - Forces you experience in a day
everyday life? activity
Forces Lab What types of 7-D2.2 7- IP, PR, IS, SI, C, Bocknek (2008) - Investigation of Forces Lab Reading for next Math Quiz review (a, f) NOS
forces need to be D2.3 7-D1.5 AI, CT Sa activity class Health Lab worksheet (f,
considered in 290 292 ELA o)
everyday life?
Lab Worksheet
Bring necessary
materials for
building/planning
Project If we were to 7-D4.1 - 7- IP, PR, IS, SI, C, - Discussion Peer and Self Art Peer/Self NOS
Blueprint and rebuild the D4.3, 7- AI, CT Sa - Work period to draw up and Assessment ELA Assessment (a, f)
Planning Viaduct, what D2.4 & 5 build their bridge columns Math
Health
(5 classes) could we do - Peer and self assessments (x2)
differently?
Project 7-D4.1 - 7- IP, PR, IS, SI, C, - Presenting and testing their Project (f, o)
D4.3, 7- AI, CT Sa columns
D2.4 & 5
*Initiating and Planning (IP), Performing and Recording (PR), Analyzing and Interpreting (AI), Communication and Teamwork (CT)
**Interest in Science (IS), Mutual Respect (MR), Scientific Inquiry (SI), Collaboration (C), Stewardship (S), Safety (Sa)
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
Stations Lab Lab review / Project Plan Project Plan Day Project Plan day
(Forces) Discussion / Day1* 2* 3*
Debrief / Quiz
D.2.3 review
Project Build Day Project Build Day Unit Review Unit Final Project
1 2 Presentation /
Testing day
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students will be able to:
1. Build a structure capable of bearing a load
2. Identify the forces acting on the structure
3. Compare the efficacy of the different materials, and discuss the pros and cons of each
4. Create a method to test each of the materials in a consistent fashion
PROCEDURE
Introduction Time
Introduce the students to the question that will guide the experiment. What are
the pros and cons of using each material?
Explain that each table will have a different material to test, and at the end will
share their findings with the class. Each table will receive the same amount of
tape to bind their structure.
Walk through the hand out and give an example of what is expected in each of 10 min
the fill out boxes. Students will measure the strength of their structure
quantitatively, and qualitatively by recording observations as more weight is
put on
Body Time
Topic: Testing 1) As a class we will build the method by which we will test the
Methods different materials. Identifying what we are keeping
consistent across each of the materials. Answer questions
like: What dimensions should be used? What will we use as
weights? How will the weight be applied? At what intervals 5min
should we make our observations?
2) In this section we address the scientific method, and stress the
importance of good science. Careful and logical testing
and experimentation is important.
Topic: 1) Each table has their testing material, the worksheet, and the
Conducting methods by which they should test. At this point they should
the experiment begin to build the agreed upon structure and then test it.
2) The worksheet has a location to write the amount of weight 25 min
on the structure, and some room to write some observations
such as bending, breaking, compression etc. Where are we
seeing the force do damage?
was.
2) Come to a conclusion about which material would be best for
the final project. Why? Would any of the materials we did
not pick be better for something else?
3) As a class critique the method used to measure each material.
Was is biased towards one building material? Was it a fair
comparison? What would you do better next time? Try to
lead the students to conclusions about consistency and
repeatability.
Conclusion Time
Have the students hand in their observation sheet, and clean up their desks.
Remind the students to begin to think about how they are planning on building
their column for the final project. Think about the material they selected and 5min
how to best utilize it.
Assessment
Observation hand out (Formative)
Participation in class discussion, and lab work (Formative)
Additional Notes:
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
Material tested:
What are the pros and cons of your material? Would you use it for your project?
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
Lesson
Project Blueprint and Planning Day #2 Course Science 7
Title/Focus
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students will be able to:
1. List design methods to increase the strength of materials
2. Analyze their own design and adjust to increase the strength
Instruct the students to have their intended materials for their bridge at school and read
for this class
Book laptop cart
PROCEDURE
Introduction Time
ED 3601 Feb. 19, 2017 Ryan, Luis, & Christina
Indicate to students that they will be looking at their original design and
evaluating how strong it is
Explain that we will be talking about ways to strengthen their bridges 3 min
depending on the material they are using
Body Time
Topic:
1. Conduct a class discussion about what worked to
Discussion
make their bridge columns stronger
2. Record their thoughts on the board
3. Add any other methods they may have missed
4. Inform the students that the changes they made to 15 min
their mock up should be recorded and altered in their
design
Transition: Explain to students that the rest of the period is
theirs to continue working on their bridge columns.
Topic: Free
1. Circulate as they work
design and build
2. Provide feedback and assistance where necessary.
time
3. Students may need laptops for their research or other
materials available around the school, which they 15 min
Conclusion Time
Ensure all students are back in the classroom and the room is clean
Inform them that they will have lots of extra time to work on their
bridges and they should bring any materials they may need to continue 2 min
working on their projects
Assessment
Discussion Formative (Objective #1)
Can they list effective methods of strengthening structure design
Observation and discussion Formative (Objective #2)
Are they making necessary changes to their initial design and will it actually
benefit their final product.
Additional Notes: