At our first team meeting of the year, Team 5 participated in a murder mystery activity. With various clues and tough investigative questions, the students cracked the case! While trying to figure out who was responsible for the fictional murder, the students learned more about the job responsibilities of an architect, engineer and construction manager and what “clues,” or characteristics, best describe them.

Then the students put their design and structural skills to the test: building towers out of pasta and marshmallows. We separated into teams to compete against one another to build the tallest structurally sound tower. All towers successfully withstood gravity loads, but soon “Earthquake Ezra” made his rounds and applied lateral forces as well. Some towers prevailed better than others…