Science Fair Bridge Building Competition
The purpose of the bridge building competition is to incorporate both math and science into an alternative project for
science fair. The bridge building project will only be available to high school students who do not wish to complete a
traditional science fair project. The bridge building project will be broken down into the following grading criteria:
Scale blueprints of the bridge design
Essay which includes the background information and justification of their bridge design
Post build reflection
Overall design
Overall appearance and creativity
Effort and workmanship on the bridge project
Testing of the bridge to determine its load to weight ratio to determine the effectiveness of the design
Science Fair poster
Guidelines:
Students will be constructing a bridge made from popsicle sticks and PVA wood glue. The bridge will need to span a
minimum distance of 60 centimeters, with the actual length of the bridge being longer than 60 centimeters. The
maximum length of the bridge shall be no longer than 75 centimeters. The minimum width of the bridge shall be no less
than 6 centimeters and a maximum width of 12 centimeters. The maximum mass of the bridge shall be no more than
250 grams. A central load will be suspended from the middle of the bridge to determine the effectiveness of the design.
NO OTHER materials can be used during the building of the bridge other than regulation sized popsicle sticks and PVA
wood glue. If any bridge does not meet the required specifications, that bridge will NOT compete in the final
competition.
Science Fair Poster:
All students who participate in the bridge building project are mandated to produce a science fair poster. The top 5
students competing in the bridge building competition will present their poster and bridge during the science fair. The
poster shall include all but not limited to the following:
Title of your bridge project
Blueprints of your design
Outline of the strengths and weaknesses of your design
Historical/Real world use of your bridge design
Color pictures of the building process, final product, and during testing
Actual bridge after testing (broken bridge)
Data and analysis of your bridge design (load to weight ratio)
Resources:
There are many great resources to find on the internet.
[Link]
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Grading Rubric
Name(s): ________________________________________________________________________________
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point 0 points
Detailed 2D
Detailed 2D Detailed 2D 2D blueprints 2D blueprints
Blueprint blueprint
blueprint blueprint lacked detail; lacked detail;
submitted; more
-Scale 2D diagram of bridge submitted; all submitted; 1 -2 Basic Basic No Blueprint
than 3
including measurements. measurements measurements measurements measurements was submitted
measurements
matched actual did not match matched the did not match the
did not match the
bridge actual bridge actual bridge actual bridge
actual bridge
Very good essay; Average essay; Average essay; Poorly written
Excellent essay;
had excellent to Not written in Not written in essay; format
had excellent
Essay (350-500 words) very good the correct the correct was not correct;
formatting with
formatting with format; 7 to 15 format; 15-20 Greater than 20
-Background and justification for fewer than 3 No Essay was
fewer than 6 grammatical/spel grammatical/spel grammatical/spel
choosing bridge design. grammatical/spel submitted
grammatical/spel ling errors; Was ling errors; Was ling errors; Word
-Post building reflection. ling errors; Was
ling errors; Was not within not within count was not
within required
within required required word required word within
word count
word count count count requirements
Combo
Truss/Arch
Modified
bridge;
Warren, Pratt, or Warren, Pratt, or King or Queen
Design Cantilever Simple beam No bridge was
Howe truss; Howe truss Post truss bridge
-Complexity of bridge design bridge; Highly bridge design constructed
simple Arch bridge design design
modified Truss
bridge
bridge (ex: K-
truss)
Little to no effort
Appearance Poor appearance
Appearance & Creativity Excellent Very good was put forth in
and/or creativity and/or creativity No bridge was
-Aesthetically pleasing with an appearance and appearance and
was lacking in in the bridge
the appearance
constructed
elegant design creativity creativity and creativity of
the bridge design design
the design
Average build
Good build Below average
quality and
Excellent build quality and build quality and
Very good build effort; Bridge
quality and effort; Bridge effort; Little
quality and may not closely
Effort & Workmanship effort; Bridge may not be effort was made No bridge was
effort; Bridge match the
-High quality build effort matched the symmetrical or to match the constructed
closely matched blueprint; messy
design of the does not closely blueprint; sloppy
the blueprint or
blueprint match the construction of
unsymmetrical
blueprint bridge
bridge
Load to Weight Ratio ≥ 100 efficiency 100 > efficiency 80 > efficiency 60 > efficiency 30 > efficiency No bridge was
𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑
-Bridge efficiency = rating rating ≥ 80 rating ≥ 60 rating ≥ 30 rating ≥ 0 tested
𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒
All of the criteria
All of the criteria
All criteria of the of the poster
of the poster
poster were met; were met; Very
were met; A lack 1 of the required 2 or more of the
Excellent effort, good effort, No poster was
Science Fair Poster (x2 points) creativity, and creativity, and
of information or criteria was required criteria
submitted
effort was made; missing were missing
information was information was
many minor
shown shown; minor
mistakes
mistakes only
Total Points: ____ / 40 points