Building Strong Foundations—Engineering Thinking Through Structural Challenges

The STEM Explorers: Design and Build program teaches students that engineering is not about getting it right the first time—it is about testing, failing, analyzing, and improving. Through forty class periods of increasingly complex structural challenges, students develop the problem-solving instincts and technical skills that define real engineering work.

Students explore how structural engineering supports professionals in fields such as:

• Civil engineering and infrastructure design
• Architecture and urban planning
• Earthquake and disaster resilience engineering
• Construction management and building inspection
• Materials science and testing

They do not just learn about structures. They build, test, break, and rebuild them.

Science

• Forces acting on structures—compression, tension, shear, bending, torsion
• Seismic wave properties and how they affect buildings
• Material strength and failure analysis
• Controlled experimentation with single and multiple variables

Technology

• Professional testing devices for measuring structural performance
• The EQµ Tremor Table for simulating earthquake conditions
• Data collection, graphing, and analysis tools
• Engineering notebooks for documenting the design process

Engineering

• Full engineering design cycle—ask, imagine, plan, create, test, improve
• Designing to specifications, constraints, and material budgets
• Stress testing and failure analysis
• Bridge, tower, and seismic structure design challenges

Math

• Calculating ratios of volume to material for structural efficiency
• Measuring dimensions, loads, and structural capacity
• Graphing data from stress tests and earthquake simulations
• Geometric reasoning in polyhedron and bridge design

Investigation: Structural Design (5 lessons):

• Comparing Strength of Polyhedrons—Determine which polyhedral shape makes the strongest base

• Calculating Polyhedron Efficiency—Calculate ratios of volume to total straw length

• Designing and Building a Truss—Design, build, and test different straw truss designs

• Designing and Building a Structure—Use a set amount of resources to build the tallest tower

• Structural Design Challenge—Model a building for the community using straw structures

Investigation: Structural Design (Bridge Focus, 10 lessons):

• All About Bridges—Learn about different types of bridges

• Structural Frameworks—Test the strength of shapes used in bridge frameworks

• Structural Forces—Learn about the five common forces acting on structures

• Bridge Challenge—Learn specifications and constraints for the bridge project

• Bridge Design—Ask, Imagine, Plan—Brainstorm and sketch bridge solutions

• Bridge Construction—Create—Use materials and tools to construct bridge designs

• Stress to Failure—Test bridges to failure

• Bridge Analysis—Improve—Evaluate efficiency and propose improvements

Investigation: Seismic Engineered Structures (8 lessons):

• Structural and Natural Forces—Learn about natural forces acting on structures

• Investigating Wave Properties—Analyze and generate various wave forms

• Designing Structural Resistance—Design an earthquake-resistant structure to meet criteria

• Varying Mass Distribution—Investigate placement of mass prior to an earthquake

• Locating Epicenters—Determine the epicenter of a hypothetical earthquake

• Designing Roadbed Segments—Design and construct an earthquake-resistant roadbed

• Structural Investigation—Test an earthquake-resistant roadbed

• Seismic Engineering—Design and test a structure to withstand maximum stress