Nest Challenge

Our current science/engineering project is about nests.  Students have gotten to examine some real birds' nests and look at photos showing many different styles of nests.  We talked about what materials the birds used, how the materials kept the eggs warm and protected, and where the nests were located.  We even looked at some books about nests and found out birds aren't the only creatures that build nests for their eggs.  As we talked about how the birds used the materials in their nests and how they connected the parts, the idea of weaving came up.  So we did some paper weaving next.  Students had the options of cutting straight lines or making more unusual shapes and choosing to use 1 or 2 colors.  They created this great artwork:

Then we tried a little mini-challenge.  Students worked with a partner.  They had a cup, some paper strips, and an empty plastic egg.  The task was to use the paper strips to create a structure that would keep the nest from falling into the cup.  When they were successful at that task, we made it a little harder.  Since eggs aren't really hollow, I put some rocks inside the eggs to make them heavier.  Students had to be more strategic about how they arranged the strips of paper to hold up the heavier weight.  Then as the final part of the challenge, they tried to weave the strips together so that they would not need as many.  Here are several photos of the hard-working teams!  (Our next steps will be to examine the materials for the big challenge and to construct a nest that can hold several eggs and keep them from falling out even on a windy day!)