HELENA — Many students stress about tests and that is exactly what is happening with local students as they stress test bridges they built in their physics and math classes.
In its fourth year, the annual balsa bridge building competition is a partnership with local bridge engineer Russ Lay of Morrison Maierle and local high schools.
Jonathan Driggers, a math and computer science teacher says, "All of my students get to apply what they have been learning in my math class and actually see it in action we get to see a lot of measurement.”
Students prepared their bridges with kits provided by Morrison Maierle in their classes using trigonometry and big physics ideas that are hard to understand until you see it.
“Well today is obviously very fun to actually see them get the final result and see what they have worked towards,” Driggers says.
Winners are determined by measurement by dividing the weight of their bridge by how much weight it can bear with the stress press.
Some students' mini balsa wood bridges held over three hundred pounds.
But more than winning and skills in the classroom, students are taking many lessons with them.
One competitor, Haiden Hill says, “I think teamwork that's definitely one of them.”
And just like their bridges, support is a key part of the project.
Driggers says, “I think the biggest lesson is how do you work together with other people and how do you support each other in this process? It was really neat seeing in my classroom seeing all my students working within their group, but also trying to help their classmates."
The winners will not be announced until all high schools have competed and scores have been calculated.
The first place team will receive a five hundred dollar check and second through fifth place will also take away monetary prizes.
