Project Overview

One of the goals of the grade 7 Science program is to exposed students to structure and design. During this unit of study students are to explore various structural design, focusing upon various beam and bridge designs. Students are to explore existing structures and designs while experimenting with their own designs through a bridge building activity. It is this very feature upon which this project will focus. By using the Internet, this project will allow students to access various structural designs that would not be available to them.

To develop in students a greater appreciation for the role of effective design in our technological society, students must be exposed to various design features. Through the Internet, students will gather information on various beam and bridge designs. Once this data as been collected students will analysis it so that they might apply this data to their own bridge designs. Also, students will use the Internet to explore how bridge building competitions are conducted in other schools. Once the activity has been completed, students will use collect information, including digital images and video to develop a web page that might be used to present this activity to other students and parents. This web page would be attached to the Clarenville Middle Schools home page.

   Goals

1. Students will learn how to search for and collect information from various sources on the Internet.
   
2. Students will learn about good structural design, as it relates to beam and bridge design.
   
3. Students will learn how to organize their research findings.
   
4. Students will learn how to decide the "good" information sources from the "bad".
   
5. Students will learn how to present their information using a HTML editor, including the use of hypertext links in their documents.
   
6. Students will learn how to publish and share their data using their World Wide Web.
   

   Curriculum Connections

This project will meet course objectives in the following areas:

1. Science - Structural Design
   
2. Language Arts - research techniques and presentation of findings.
   
3. Language Arts - presentations and communication to various audiences.
   

   Resource Connections

1. Internet connection. Provided by Cable Atlantic and STEM~NET.
   
2. Internet server to place WWW pages on. This can be provided on the school's server or STEM~NET.
   
3. Computer system capable of running WWW software. This will be provided by Clarenville Middle School.
   
4. HTML editors and browsers, for example HTMLed and Netscape 4.0.
   

   Evaluation

1. Development of good presentation and communication skills.
   
2. Effective beam and bridge designs applied to group projects.
   
3. Development of good research/searching techniques using the Internet.
   
4. Appreciation for the effects of the Internet as a communication device.