STEM Activities

Tower Challenge

Challenge your team to build the strongest tower.


Materials (per team)

  • 3 ft of masking tape
  • 1 paper bathroom cup
  • 12 in. string
  • 16 straws
  • Scissors
  • Pennies (or other small manipulatives)

Method

  1. Divide students into groups of 3-4 and distribute materials to each team.
  2. Outline the design challenge.
    • Each team must design and build a tower that can hold the most weight in a suspended cup.
    • The cup cannot touch the table.
    • The tower must hold at least 10 pennies.
  3. Have students spend time planning.
  4. Build, test and improve.
  5. The team with the tower that can hold the most pennies without the tower collapsing or the cup dropping to the table wins.

Take It Back to Class

  • Reflect on what tower shapes were the strongest.
  • Create superlative awards (e.g. most improved design, most creative structure, best teamwork).
  • Add material constraints or challenge teams to use the least amount of materials to build their structure.

Download Activity

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Source

The Challenge is On: A STEM Tower Challenge, The Secret Life of Homeschoolers

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At this time, Burns & McDonnell is not offering pure architectural services in the states of Illinois or New Jersey. We may, however, provide design-build services for architectural projects.