My Students' Paper Tower Building Competition!

kenanqhd (68)in #life • 6 years ago (edited)

Hello Steem Blockchain!

In today's DTube Exclusive video, I show you my classroom of students that are competing against each other to see who can build the tallest free-standing tower out of nothing but paper and tape. This activity always gets them excited and competitive.

Near the end, you get to see who the winning team is and an explanation of why the other teams failed to meet their expectations. This activity is designed to get student's working with each other to solve a problem. In Chinese education, students are usually by themselves and don't get to do any group work. In my program, we get to expose them to a more Western education system that encourages group work and solving problems in class.

The students have to build a tower that can stand on its own. If the tower cannot stand upright on its own, that team fails the activity (don't worry, this is just for fun!). Two of the groups had a similar concept, but one of them executed it better which led to their victory.

The first team wanted to make thin tubes of paper and stack them on top of each other. In the beginning, they looked like they were going to succeed, however as the tower got taller, the base started to buckle and gravity became the bane of the towers existence.

1st tower.JPG
Height: Not measured due to failure to stand upright.

The 2nd team had a really interesting tower. Their concept was to make conical shapes and stack them on top of each other. This was an improvement from the first team because it allowed for a more robust and sturdy foundation. The problem with this tower was that they had trouble duplicating the first 2 cones and stacking them on top. Near the end of the time limit, they gave up and just started shoving paper inside the top opening of the tower hahaha.

2nd tower.JPG
Height: 70 cm

And lastly, the winning team was a fusion of the previous two. Their tower was very similar to the first team, but they had wider diameter tubes which allowed for more sturdiness, while at the same time having the same height. This had the positive parts of the last 2 teams and executed it very well. In fact, they didn't even need to tape the base of the tower to the desk for increased sturdiness. Bonus points for that!

3rd tower.JPG
Height: 155 cm

I think all of them learned valuable lessons today. I was happy to see them working together. At the end, the winning team members each got 2 candies, while the other teams get 1 candy each. They were all happy and all was well!