SEEDA Case Study 3

Legoland Windsor Tall Towers Workshops - Settlements around the World and Earthquakes

Before visiting the Tall Towers Workshop at Legoland. Year 5 pupils at Bisham School looked at forces and structures and settlements. The objectives was to:-

"Investigate the suitability of buildings to cope with stresses and forces of earthquake zones."

The desired outcomes were that the children should be aware of problems of buildings and structures in earthquake zones.

The activity was to build a Lego building within timings

(a) 5 minutes
(b) 10 minutes

Lead questions were:-

1. What sort of base should the building have?
2. Does height affect the building?
3. Does the building withstand the impact of different forces

The children worked in groups of 4 and were allowed to self-select materials and then revise their original plans at their second attempt at building.

The desired outcomes were felt to be met by the activity and extension work/discussion focussed on how buildings are designed to be appropriate for their purpose.

The children's comments included:

"Learned a lot about earthquakes"

"Thought about how buildings needed to be built"

"Enjoyed the testing!!"

This activity supported the Tall Towers workshop held at Legoland where the strength of the children's assembled towers were tested on a moving base. Children learnt that a broad base gave a structure additional strength, that a triangular shape was very effective (e.g. pylons, Eiffel Tower etc) and that a traditional brick laying technique helps spread the buildings stress points, (curriculum mapping to the workshop is attached).

The children also attended workshops at Legoland which made extensive use of ICT equipment (please see photographs) in their programme of robots and circulating work, attending the Robosports and Taking Control workshops, (please see cirriculum mapping). The children were very involved and enthusiastic about both workshops, which Legoland are now planning to adapt to make possible for special needs in the light of teacher evaluations.

Previous Case study | Case Study index | Next Case Study