Some of the Year 10 Geography classes have been putting on their thinking caps over the past few weeks and taking on the roles of engineers and architects in the hope of designing the perfect earthquake proof structure.  While studying the responses to living on a tectonic plate boundary, where earthquakes regularly occur, the students rose to the challenge of designing a tower that would be stable enough to resist collapse during even the most severe earthquake event.   The students researched, designed, modified then built their structures using the most flimsy of materials – spaghetti and mini-marshmallows.  There was frustration with the materials when the spaghetti snapped or the marshmallows hardened between lessons, reducing their malleability. But, there was also pride in some of the very innovative structures that were submitted to the earthquake table to put their structures through minor and intense tremors.  Innovation was to the fore and evaluations revealed that wider bases, cross beams and additional marshmallow supports, as well as double thickness spaghetti, were all methods of strengthening the towers.  While some of the towers did not hold up to intense sliding, every single tower remained intact – though not always where they started!  Fabulous work from all students involved.

Mrs Chisim