Entry Event

Competition Day (20 minutes )

Students will be given twenty minutes to prepare their soil reinforcements for testing. They can make any last-minute changes to their placement/materials, but should be sure to record all materials used, and the placement of the materials in their competition worksheet. This worksheet will be turned in to the facilitator later in the competition.

Cost Analysis

10 minutes

For the final designs that were built, students will estimate the cost of their reinforced soil by using the table in the worksheet (also provided below). The lowest costing design that meets the load specifications wins!

Resources

• • Paper

  • Cloth

  • Plastic Sticks

  • Wire Mesh

  • Competition Work Sheet

  • Student Flags

  • Pencils

  • Box

  • 5kg Weight

  • Sand

  • Competition Planning Worksheet

Presentations and Soil Testing

40 minutes

Once all teams have completed reinforcing, students will be asked to share their designs one by one. Students will introduce their team, explain the materials that they have chosen to use, and reveal the costs of their designs. Once introduced, the facilitator will start the testing process that includes removing the front face of the box and see if there is any deflection. After that a load of 5 kg will be placed on the soil surface and again observed for deflection. This process will be repeated for each group. Each wall will be tested individually with students making observations of each wall’s resiliency.

Judging the Performance

10 minutes

Facilitators will compare the costs and the performance of the bridges and arrive at the winning team. The team will be announced to the class and audience once everyone has returned.