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Curricular Units are multi-week groupings of lessons.

This curricular unit introduces students to basic Civil Engineering concepts in an exciting and interactive manner. Bridges and skyscrapers, the two most visible products of Civil Engineers, will be discussed in depth. Students will have a chance to design and build balsa wood structures, as well as understand the design principles behind these structures that allow them to withstand vertical and lateral forces. There is also an emphasis on how materials absorb different types of forces. Since the ability to visualize in three dimensions is imperative to civil engineers, there is a visual, hands-on activity designed to teach three dimensional coordinate systems.

This unit teaches civil engineering concepts of tower design.

Students should be able to locate a point in space, given its coordinates and an origin.
Students should be able to describe the location of a given point in space relative to some origin using coordinates.
Students should be able to explain why they built their tower the way they did, using the concepts and terms they learned in the history of skyscraper presentation.
Students should be able to explain how their tower resisted the wind load (i.e. which parts of the tower supported the bulk of the load, or if their tower is really slender so that the wind has less area to act on, etc.)

Techtronics Program, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University Kelly Devereaux, Ben Burnham © 2004 by Engineering K-Ph.D. Program, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University
including copyrighted works from other educational institutions and/or U.S. government agencies; all rights reserved.

Last Modified: August 2, 2007