Bridge Basics Program Kit

Our Youth “Engineering Ideas” for Our Future

Our Youth "Engineering Ideas" for Our Future

For the first time, the Museum is bringing its engaging, hands-on Bridge Basics program directly to educators and students for classroom use.

Bridge Basics uses bridge engineering and design as vehicles for exploring and solving problems, and helps students “engineer ideas.” Students learn about fundamental structural engineering concepts and five basic types of bridges. They also get to design, construct, and test model bridges using playing cards and other materials.

For more than 15 years, Bridge Basics has successfully inspired thousands of students who’ve completed the program at the Museum.

Now, educators can deliver the same program on their own using the field-tested Bridge Basics Program Kit. It’s perfect for classroom use, after school programs, camps, and other educational settings. Using the kit, educators lead students in becoming engineers and working in teams to build model bridges that solve transportation problems while balancing issues of aesthetics, geography, materials, and cost.

The kit is already being integrated into after school learning by the ACE Mentor Program. It also received early praise by winning an honorable mention in the educational resources category in the 2006 Museum Publications Design Competition of the American Association of Museums.

The kit is entirely ready to use, complete with a CD-ROM, foundation lessons, posters, worksheets, bridge construction materials, and other resources. The curriculum is ideal for grades five through nine and is fully inter-disciplinary. It meets national standards of learning in six areas: language arts, math, science, social studies, technology, and visual arts.

Order Now: Teachers receive 10% off—buy the kit online from the Museum Shop, or download and fax or mail the order form.

Kit Contents
Curriculum Plan
Educator orientation for organizing lesson plans and units through flexible combinations

Seven lesson plans

Student worksheets

Supplementary resources

Basic explanation of engineering principles and five bridge types

Vocabulary words

Lists of books, Web sites, videos, and organizations

Teaching Tools
CD-ROM Bridging the Gap: interactive computer program that provides additional information about five bridge types and gives students a chance to solve transportation problems by selecting appropriate bridge designs for different scenarios

PDFs of student worksheets and information sheets

PDF of Instructions for Card Bridge Models

PDF of 5 Bridge Type Posters

Full-color instruction cards for building basic card bridge
models of five bridge types

Bridge Posters: each measuring 11x17” and showing examples of one of the bridge types

Triangle and square to demonstrate the strength of building structures

Model-making materials: 5 sets of cards, 3/4” brass fasteners, 100’ string