Alex

Grade 7A
STEM

Design cycle

Criteria A: Inquiry and analyzing

My idea of product is to make a bridge that can hold more than 1kg. I choose this
because I thought it would be challenging and might improve my making skills. I
think myself will enjoy it. I think I need wood plate, chopstick, glue gun, string, saw.
I need to research about making a safe bridge. I made 4 research questions.0

What
What
What
What
What

column can hold more weight safely? What martial should we use?
material will we need to make a road plate? What would be safe?
would make the bridge hold 1kg?
will be the best style of the bridge.
bridge design should we choose?

My plan of researching is to research in goggle. I am sure I will get pretty much

almost all information in Google but when I need something else, I could visit a
library and pick up some book that I need. I also have a primary source. My primary
source is the bridge I created in the past. I dont have a product but I have every
plans and designs in my old book. this will be really useful.

3 similar product I found

1. Arch bridge
This bridge has a X support beneath and has a arch shape in all. The good think
about this bridge is arch bridge is really stabled and there are many X support. The
bad thing about this is it will take a long time to finish the supports and it is hard to
put a weight on the bridge.

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM

2. Suspension bridge
In this bridge, they have flat surface, wiring support, and simple support. The
good thing about this bridge is they have a flat surface which we can put weight
easily. The bad thing about this bridge is it is connected to floor using clays
which makes it unstable. Also the wire looks too wick. Then finally, the support
looks weak.

3. Another design of suspension bridge

This one is really special. It has a support on the bridge and arch shape on the
bridge also. The good thing about this is It takes less time and it is stabled. The bad
thing is if you try to make a longer bridge, it would be a hard job.
The summarize of my research:
Arch bridge is stabled. But if you use have a arch, it is not good enough so I better
use it with other supports. Also it is really hard to make with woods. The suspension
bridges main thing is the wire that is helping a bridge. It also use a lot of supports
and it is very good for long strong bridges. I think I am going to choose a suspension
bridge.

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM
After I research about some of the different designs of bridge, I changed my mind.
The plan I have now is to make a 30cm long bridge as a suspension bridge design.
The reason for this was because when I build the bridge, the pillar will fall so it I a
good idea to build a pillar then put rope behind to connect with ground. I also think
this will be extra safe when I use supports and stronger pillars.

Criteria B: Developing ideas

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM

This is my design specification that I created before I start to make a bridge. Based
on my design spec, I made a bridge. I am going to follow this spec because based
on my research, I choose the pillar shape and support I am going to use. I also
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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM
added more details before I start making bridge. The reason is I did a extra research
and realize it would be better if I add this.

Criteria C: Creating a solution

My step and plan of making a bridge
1. February 6 ~ February 13
Choose our goal for a STEM February project. Finish Criteria A
2. February 15~ February 19
Finish our criteria B(design spec) Start planning for materials and where can we
get it.
3. February 19~ February 24
Start making wooden boards and cut a chopstick for my bridge road and
supports.(NEED: Chopstick, Wooden plate, Saw, Sand paper, Sawing table, Glue
gun)
4. February 24~ March 3
Start & Finish building support underneath the bridge. Also put X in between
each bridge.(NEED: Chopstick, Wooden plate, Saw, Sand paper, Sawing table,
Glue gun)
5. March 6~ March 12
Stick a bridge with wooden plate and finish putting pillars on bridge. Also
Connect bridge, plate and pillar with wire(NEED: Chopstick, Wooden plate, Saw,
Sand paper, Sawing table, Glue gun)
6. March 13~ March 15
Finish criteria C and D
7. March 18
Finish my stem product and my design cycle
The tools and material I used:
Glue gun
Wood chopstick
Wood plate
Saw
Sawing table
metal wire
Sandpaper

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM
Photo of my product and explaining

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM

Photo of me and my partner Making a support beneath the bridge. My partner

Bryan was making pillar for bridge and I was sticking it to bridge.

The pillar that we used. By following a design spec, we made it out of 4 wooden
stick and make it harder.

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM

Supports underneath the bridge and wire supporting which is connected to the
bridge. Also the thin wood plate to help balance pillars. Also showing a plate
beneath the bridge.
What I change(difference):
I changed the idea of putting the wire. I was planning to connect pillar directly
with road but I changed to put a wire on the bridge and use another wire to
connect the bridge with wires. I changed some of my plan with X around the
support. I wasnt being able to complete and put all support in the bridge. This
was mainly because I had no enough time.

Criteria D: Evaluating
How do I test my product:
I am planning to get a weight that has a exact amount of 1KG. I will get many of
them and try putting one by one on the bridge to check how much weight can it
hold. I would be able to check and pusho our bridge until limit. I will be suing a
similar graph below to record my information. I will be using timers to measure
how land can it take. If it looks like it will break, I will stop.
Weight
1KG
2KG
3KG
4KG
5KG
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Time hold

Alex
Grade 7A
STEM
6KG
7KG
The opinion for others:
I might need to straight the wire
I might need to use a proper plate
I might need to put more support between pillar
I might try sticking wire harder
The reason I did this project:
I did this project because I thought it would be challenging and improve my skills of
making. I also think that this will be fun. I also choose this because all the material I
need was really easy to gather.
Q&A
Were your design specifications detailed enough?
I think because I put 5 image to describe. I also write how to make each part of
everything and also the material needed for it. I also gave a length of each
things. But maybe not detailed in how do we put wires in position steadily.
Did your product meet the design specifications?
I think it did because most of the stuff in my bridge is based on design spec. 2 of
them, I made them
different. One was the style of placing the wire on
top of bridge. Other one was the amount of support I put for support underneath.
Did your product work as you intended or imagined?
It did because I was hoping to make a bridge that every part of all support helps
bridge. And my bridges part can help hold weight in any part. Next of my goal was
to finish until wires. And I did it. My other plan was to make a strong stabled pillar
made out of a wooden chopstick. My pillar is strong and they are made out of
wooden chopstick.
Next time I do this, I want to improve these:

Finish and place more support underneath the bridge. Next time, I could organize
my time and do more stuff I was planning.
Next time, I want to make wires effective and help the bridge more. I could
possibly straight the wires so they are more effective
Next time, I want to try use less glue gun and finish my product. I used to much
and I feel like I could use less next time.

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Alex
Grade 7A
STEM

Next time, I want to make a road that can make cars and others be able to go up
the bridge. Or else it is not realistic like real bridge. So maybe I could have 2
more wooden plate to make a hill to connect plate beneath and the bridge.
Next time, I want to also trying put support X on the bridge. I think it will help a
lot and one of the great improvement that I can make.
Who would possibly use my product?
I think primary students who is curios and wants to discover some more
information about bridges. Because My bridge is suspension bridge which is
really common and safe. They could also use this as a example to make their
own bridge.
Approaches To learning that I used in this project.
self-management, thinking, communication, research
Reason:
Self-management
I was needing to schedule my work and follow that to accomplish all things that I
want to do. If I have a perfect plan but no time to do that, It is worthless. So I
think this can be my most important Approaches to learning that I used in this
project.
thinking
I first need to research about what I am going to do about and have a basic
information. Then I need to think about my own bridge design using the
knowledge that we got from researching. The design spec is based on that also
so it was just effecting the whole think in planning.
communication
Communication is really important especially if you are working as pair. For
example, I think I wasnt being able to finish this task in time without my partner,
Bryans help. The reason is we communicated each other and separated the
work. So like while I am sticking a pillar into the bridge, Bryan is make some
more pillars. Like this, It requires a teamwork because sometimes, you really
dont want to do this but you must do it for your team and communicating with
each other can help solve or make the problem go better.
research
Research is the start of most of the project. If you dont have enough knowledge
of your topic, you can possibly do nothing. But the power of research is
incredible. If you research more and more, you get higher chance to make a
better final product. This is also a base for all things so this Approaches to
learning is really important like self-management.

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