After exploring the topic of seismic activity for our Year 9 Science class, we worked on a hands-on project where we researched, planned, and constructed earthquake-proof architecture through the classroom form of building spaghetti and BluTack towers. Our task was to build a structurally sound spaghetti tower that could withstand the forces of a simulated earthquake whilst fulfilling specific limitations of the task (e.g. measurement limitations). The hands-on innovation required in this project gave us a glimpse into an engineer’s task and thought process when designing architecture, especially earthquake-proof buildings in real life (e.g. Japan’s earthquake resistant high-rise buildings).
Link to the testing phase of our spaghetti tower (simulating earthquake seismic waves through shaking): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UAhyaOY3vUtwhAk_C_YyNYIloZe7tPT0/view?usp=sharing
Engineering Process
Throughout the project, we followed the engineering process:
Some improvements we could implement include extra repetitions of the testing phase or adding a ‘practise trial’ phase, an expanded ‘share and improve’ phase, and making the ‘define’ phase more thorough. Firstly, the extra repetitions of a testing phase would help our tower’s performance issue – our construction plan was effective but our execution of the building phase wasn’t ideal (we think our tower fell apart as we rushed construction and didn’t firmly stick the spaghetti into the BluTack). Extra practice of building our tower would help us prepare for testing phases. Secondly, whilst we did have a ‘share and improve’ phase where our group discussed what we could do better, an expanded approach to this would’ve helped our outcomes. This could look like communicating not only with members of our group but with other groups and people in our class in order to share ideas. Finally, making the ‘define’ phase more thorough could improve our understanding of the engineering process in real life. For example, empathising with the stakeholders who are affected by the issue (earthquakes) could help develop our understanding of how this task applies to the real world.
Teamwork and Collaboration
At the start of the project, we allocated roles for each group member in order to use our individual strengths the best we could to contribute to the engineering challenge. I was the Project Manager (keeps the team on track) and Reporter (ensures we are ready before deadline), Anna Gray was the Equipment Manager (makes sure materials are available), and Angelina Armstrong was the Speaker (seeks external help and communicates with others). My roles utilised my leadership skills and planning, Anna’s role relied on her reliability and organisation, and Angelina’s role relied on her clarity in her communication skills.