Jasmine’s Science Project

This science experiment is on: Strong & Stable Structures. Jasmine explains what she enjoyed most about doing the project, and what she found the hardest.

“What I enjoyed most was designing the character on my structure. The challenging part was my weight. It was really heavy, so I found it hard to find something that would hold it up.” Jasmine, Age 9

Strong & Stable Structures – Steps

1. Choose your load (an unopened can, for example)
2. Use materials from around the house
3. Design your structure using vrious shapes; It needs to be 30 cm (or 12 inches tall)
4. Put your structure together
5. Test it out; It should be both strong and stable
6. Finish your structure or start over again
7. Test it out again and measure it with a ruler to make sure it is 30 cm tall

Supplies:

• two-pound weight
• pencil and eraser
• cardboard (thinner and heavier)
• ruler
• scissors
• felt markers

My Instructions:

1. Instead of a can, I decided to use a two-pound weight.
2. The first step was to determine what my design would be.
3. I thought I would make a cell phone holder. Instead of a cell phone, it would be a weight.
4. Then, I drew it out and labelled it.
5. I made a test version out of thinner cardboard.
6. I made the real version with hard cardboard.
7. I cut it out and put all the pieces together.
8. I drew my picture and put the weight on the top of my structure.

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