This week in science we continued our structures and materials unit. Last week we tested the strengths of different materials. This week we decided to look at the strength of different shapes in structures. We did our experiment using two shapes; a square and a circle. Before we began we took a survey to see which shape the grade three's thought would be stronger. Squares were chosen by over half the class. To test it out we made a paper square and a triangle square to see which shape would loose its form easier. We quickly discovered that the square could easily be manipulated into other objects whereas the triangle held its shape.
The next day we decided to look at how we could strengthen the strength of the weak square. One of the boys suggested we put a piece of paper diagonally along the square to support it more. We tried that out and found out that our square was MUCH more stable this way. We realized it was because the square now looked like two triangles.
We applied our new knowledge to our everyday life and realized that it is important to know which shape is stronger for building new structures such as bridges.
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