Cooperating organization: Canadian Foundation for the Creative Arts

Class time: Every Saturday 16:00 – 17:00
Club Activities: January 18 – May 31, 2025 (20 sessions)

Course Overview：

In order to stimulate students’ creativity and engineering design skills, we have joined forces with the Creative Arts Foundation of Canada to launch the Bridge Building Competition Club for secondary school students. Here, students will have the opportunity to learn and practice the basic principles of bridge design, explore the combination of mechanics, structure and aesthetics, and improve their hands-on skills through practical exercises. The program includes bridge design, material selection, load-bearing tests, etc., culminating in a competition that promotes teamwork and creative thinking among students.

Course Content：

1. Introduction to Bridge Design：Introduces the basic concepts, design principles and material properties of bridges.
2. Fundamentals of Structural Mechanics：learn the mechanics of bridges and understand the advantages and disadvantages of different structures.
3. Bridge Construction Practice：Under the guidance of the teacher, students will design and build a bridge model by themselves.
4. Testing and Optimization：Conduct a bridge load-bearing test and optimize the design based on the test results.
5. Creativity and Aesthetics：Explore how to incorporate artistic design into the appearance of a bridge to enhance its aesthetics and functionality.
6. Teamwork and Problem Solving：Through group work, students will learn how to divide and conquer tasks.

Organization of the competition：

• Course duration：Starting from January 18th, every Saturday course will help students to improve their bridge building skills in both theoretical studies and practical exercises.
• Final Competition：In the first week of June, we will judge the bridges based on their load-bearing capacity and exterior design, and the judges will select the winning students.

• Prizes will be awarded：
  • First Prize：$200
  • Second Prize：$100
  • Third Prize：$50

Award Presentation：

All awards will be formally presented at the end of the school year meeting. The winning students will have the opportunity to present their bridge work and share their creative process and insights.

Candidates：

This club is open to all middle school students, especially those interested in engineering design, principles of mechanics, and the creative arts. Participation is open to all with or without bridge knowledge, as long as they are passionate about innovation and practice.

By building bridges and challenging the limits of mechanics and creativity, let’s discover the fun of engineering in practice and reap the achievements of teamwork together. We look forward to seeing you stand out in the competition and win the glory that belongs to you!