The Connected Classroom

Glasgow Bridge Project (photos from MoDOT's website)

A new RoundTrips videoconference has been announced! Here are the details:

Date:  January 30, 2008
Times: 10 to 10:45 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. to Noon
Grade Levels: 4-8
Cost:  No Fee

When you travel you notice there are all sorts of different shapes to bridges that span rivers, gorges, and highways.  Have you ever wondered “Why did they build that kind of bridge here?”  This interactive videoconference is designed to help you and your students answer that question.  We’ll explore basic bridge shapes such as arch, beam, suspension, and cable-stayed.  We’ll look at the forces of tension, compression, torsion, bending and shear that act on those bridge shapes.  We’ll investigate how the purpose of the bridge, its geographic location, and materials used in its construction also help determine its final design.  This is the second of our ten part series developed with the Missouri Department of Transportation as it builds a new bridge across the Missouri River at Glasgow, Missouri.  Students will see examples of different types of bridges and engage in interactive discussion and activities with engineers who design and build bridges.  We’ll look at examples of bridges from around the world and the specifics of the new bridge being built at Glasgow.

To participate in this videoconference, contact RoundTrips at roundtrips@clayton.k12.mo.us.

More details on the series of programs and an archive of the first program in the series can be found at MOREnet’s website,
http://www.more.net
.

Tags: arch, beam, bending, bridge, bridge construction, cable-stayed, compression, Glasgow Missouri, Missouri Department of Transportation, Missouri River, MOREnet, RoundTrips, shear, suspension, tension, torsion, videoconfernce