Year 8 Engineering Project

Year 8 Engineering Systems – Bridge Project

In Year 8, students have the opportunity to explore real-world disciplines through project-based learning tasks. This term, one of my classes investigated the engineering principles used by civil engineers in real-life projects.

As part of this unit, students designed and built bridges using only paddle pop sticks and glue. The goal was to construct a bridge capable of spanning a 30cm gap while withstanding forces of compression and tension.

On testing day, all bridges were completed to a high standard. Each one was tested by applying increasing weight on top. Once the available weights were exhausted, students and teachers continued testing by standing on the bridges and adding more weight until structural failure occurred.

Remarkably, every bridge supported up to 80kg, with several holding over 120kg. The strongest bridge—built by Ben Hynson and Matt Summerfield—held over 170kg and never failed during testing.

Testing day was a highlight for the class. Students were highly engaged, cheering and jumping with excitement as their bridges held more and more weight. Many were amazed that such simple materials could bear such heavy loads.