Year 4 Bridges

Lesson: Design and technology

Class: Year 4 Year: 2024 - 2025

Today we started our new DT topic- Bridges. We began by recalling previous learning that we will build upon:

What strong materials we could use for building
A frame needs a wide base to make it sturdy
Triangles strengthen
Joining by using tape, glue and fasteners
What design, create and evaluate mean.

The children recalled making a moving vehicle in Y2 and how they used glue to join the frame and axels.

Next, we looked at different bridges and thought about how they were first used- to help people cross a gap or a river etc. We now know that a bridge is used to span a gap and that there are different designs of bridges.

First, we worked in groups to try different shapes of beams to use as the support for the deck. We made our bridge prototypes strong enough for a toy car to travel across. We discussed what features and materials would help to keep bridges strong, sturdy, and safe.

During the next lesosn, we investigated truss designs. We found out that engineers can build stronger bridges using truss sections made from a number of beams connected in different ways. The decks of these bridges usually run on top of or through the trusses. Trusses help to distribute the compression forces exerted by the moving weight.

We looked at the three types of trusses and chose one design to make a bridge prototype.