Tallest Paper Tower Challenge for Grades 3-5

Background Information for Teachers

Throughout the world, engineers have designed a wide variety of observation towers in different shapes and sizes (Figure 1). Unlike regular buildings and skyscrapers, which typically have rooms (offices, apartments, etc.) on every floor, observation towers may have a mostly "hollow" structure with an observation deck on top. Other similar structures that have a hollow frame with a heavy load at the top include water towers and radio towers (Figure 2). You can download a Towers of the World Slideshow for more pictures.

Image Credit Image Credit Image Credit Image Credit
Figure 1. From left to right: the Space Needle (USA), the Pitampura TV tower (India), the Eiffel Tower (France), and the CN Tower (Canada).

Image Credit: Wikimedia commons user G-man / Public domain Image Credit: Wikimedia commons user Freekhou5 / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Figure 2. Radio towers (left) and a water tower (right).

The 2021 Engineering Challenge is inspired by towers like those in Figures 1 and 2. As shown in the following video, the goal is for students to build the tallest possible tower using only paper and tape, but the tower must also support a can of food at the top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJr2DJRKy5c

You can use this project to explore several topics in physics and engineering with your students. For example:

• Beams are long, skinny elements used to make many structures like towers and bridges. Multiple beams can be combined to make trusses. Certain truss shapes can be very strong. Can your students identify any trusses in Figures 1 and 2?
• An object that is being "squished" is in compression and an object that is being pulled on is in tension. Beams can be in either tension or compression, depending on how a tower is designed.
• Sometimes towers include ropes, cables, or chains as part of the design. These parts can only be in tension (think about what happens if you try to "push" a rope), but they can still be useful. For example, the long cables connected to the top of the radio towers in Figure 2 are called guy wires. They are anchored to the ground and prevent the tall, skinny towers from falling over.
• The shape of a beam can dramatically affect its strength. For example, it is very easy to bend a flat piece of paper. It becomes much harder to bend the paper if you fold it in half multiple times or roll it into a tube. This resistance to bending is determined by the beam's cross section. For example, the cross section of a flat piece of paper is a (very thin) rectangle. This rectangle bends very easily in the thin direction. The cross section of a piece of paper rolled into a tube is a circle. An I-beam (where the cross section looks like a capital letter I) is a common shape used in many structures.

You can also use this project to demonstrate the engineering design process. It is unlikely that your students' towers will work perfectly on the first try—they might even collapse! Your students might need to iterate by testing and tweaking their designs multiple times so they can continually improve them. You can use this video to review the steps of the engineering design process with your students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuwGvZ-eOrc

Additional Background Links

• Tension and Compression: Two Forces Every Bridge Knows Well, HowStuffWorks
• Mini-Activity: Toothpick Truss, PBS
• The Engineering Design Process, Science Buddies

Prep Work (15 minutes)

• Gather all the construction materials in a central location for students.
• Print the Student Worksheets if you will be using them (one for each student, not student group).
• Optional: Assign the Introductory Video for your students to watch before class.

Engage (5 minutes)

Introduce the challenge to your students. Explain that their main goal is to build a tower that is as tall as possible and can support a can of food at the top, using nothing but paper and tape. Show your students the following introductory video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJr2DJRKy5c

Then, go over the Student Worksheet, including the rules (also listed below).

Optional: Show your students the Towers of the World Slideshow. You can also have students do their own research online to look for pictures of different towers.

Image Credit Image Credit: Ben Finio, Science Buddies / Science Buddies Image Credit: Ben Finio, Science Buddies / Science Buddies
Figure 3. Three examples of paper towers that comply with the contest rules.

Explore (1-2 hours)

1. Design: Before they start building anything, have your students draw two of their tower ideas. Remind them to think about the materials they are allowed to use (paper and tape), and how they can use those materials to build. For example, how can they combine individual pieces of paper to make a tower? Each group of students should agree on a single design to start building.
2. Build: After agreeing on a design, students should start building. Remind them that they might want to build the tower in stages, i.e. build and test one "level" before trying to make it taller.
3. Test: After building, students should test their tower by carefully placing the can of food on top. They should carefully observe their tower to look for weak spots or ways to improve it. Do any parts of the tower sag or buckle?

   Why is it important that each group tests their tower with a can of food of similar weight?

   This ensures that the tests are fair and students can compare the strength of different towers. If each group used cans of food with different weights, they could not compare their towers accurately.

4. Iterate: emphasize that it is OK if their towers did not work on the first try. Some towers might even collapse! This is why real engineers test things, so they can fix them and make improvements. Encourage your students to improve their towers and try again. If their tower collapsed, think about how they can change the design to make it stronger. If their tower held the can, they can try making the tower taller to get a higher score.

   Optional: Note that students can also improve their scores by using less paper. For advanced students, you can encourage them to try to "slim down" their design by removing extra or unnecessary pieces of paper, or by using paper more frugally (for example, cut a piece of paper in half first, then use it to make two separate beams).

Reflect (20 minutes)

Once all student groups have finished building their towers, have a class-wide competition to calculate official scores.

1. Make sure each group has counted the number of sheets of paper used in their final tower design. Sheets used in earlier prototypes do not count. Record this value in the Student Worksheet.
2. One at a time, while the whole class watches, place a can of food on top of each tower and start the stopwatch.
3. Make sure the tower holds the can for 1 minute without collapsing. It is okay if the tower begins to sag or buckle, as long as the can does not touch the ground. Students are not allowed to touch, repair, or modify the tower during this minute.
4. After 1 minute has elapsed, use a tape measure or meterstick to measure the distance (in centimeters) from the supporting surface (floor, tabletop, etc.) to the bottom of the can. If necessary, you are allowed to use your hands to stabilize the tower or the can when taking your measurement, but do not lift the can to a higher height (this helps ensure that you do not accidentally knock the can over with the tape measure or meterstick—that would be frustrating!). Record this height in the Student Worksheet.
5. Each group can calculate their score using the equation in the Student Worksheet.

   Discuss the results of the competition as a class.

   • Did any students draw tower designs that looked the same?
   • Did anyone draw a design that no one else thought of?
   • What problems did groups encounter during the building/testing process?
   • Do the best designs have anything in common?

Assess

• Collect your students' worksheets and use them to assess how they worked through the design process.
• Ask each group to tell the rest of their class about their design. Why did they choose their design? Did they have any problems when building it?

Make Career Connections

Discussing or reading about these careers can help students make important connections between the in-class lesson and STEM job opportunities in the real world.

Civil Engineers

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Career Profile

Civil engineers design and supervise the construction of buildings, dams, bridges, highways and other major public works. Within civil engineering there are several subspecialties including structural engineering. Structural engineers are responsible for making sure a building is stable and can bear the forces that will act on it. While designing and building your paper tower, you acted like a structural engineer by working to create a tower that could successfully support a large load —a can of food. Read more

Engineering Manager

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Career Profile

Designing and constructing buildings requires deep collaboration between many engineers and technical workers. Engineering managers work to ensure that team members from all disciplines are communicating effectively and that the project is moving along at a good pace. Engineering managers also step up to lead the problem-solving process when unexpected hurdles or setbacks are encountered. If you worked in a team on this paper tower challenge, did anyone on your team fill the role of an engineering manager? Read more

Lesson Plan Variations

Did your students enjoy this type of hands-on project? Check out the other Engineering Challenges and try them in your classroom!