Experience

Welcome students to the Explore Lab.
Remind them that their goal in the Explore Lab during this stage is to better understand the question:
“Can hollow materials be both light and strong?”
Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:
- “Can hollow materials be both light and strong? Answer using evidence from your experiences in the Explore Lab so far.” (Responses will vary, but may include: They can be strong; my structure held 25 pennies! My structure held only 10 pennies, so I think it would have been stronger if I used solid materials.)
Tell students that in this stage of the Explore Lab, they can design and build a structure of their choice. Their only limitation is that they must build using only hollow materials: straws, cardboard tubes, rolled-up paper, etc.
Remind students that their other goal is to keep their structure as light as they can, while also making it both strong and durable. Like a bird, the structure needs to be light but also strong.
Turn and Talk:
- “What types of structures could we design and build using our hollow materials?” (bridges, houses, towers, buildings, airplanes, etc.)
As students share, consider collecting their ideas on a chart or white board for students to reference as they plan and build their own structure.
Tell students that the design process for building a strong structure of hollow materials has four steps:

Sketch the idea in your Labs notebook, labeling each material.
Build your structure using the continued materials of the Explore Lab.
Test out your structure’s strength and durability by testing how much weight it can hold.
Make any revisions necessary based on your observations while testing.

Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:
- “How can you test your structure for strength and durability?” (Responses will vary, but may include: If you build a building or a bridge, you can put weight on it, like the pennies. If it is an airplane, you can fly it and see how well it stays together and how far it goes.)
Display the “Hollow Design Challenge” page of the Labs notebook.
Point out the space provided on this page for students to sketch their initial idea, the space to record their observations when testing their design, and the space to plan revisions.
Encourage students to be imaginative, to be innovative, and to work with a sense of careful craftsmanship.
Transition students to the Lab space.
Circulate and support them as they work, focusing on their sharing and caring for materials and perseverance in sketching.
At the conclusion of In the Lab time, signal students to clean up their Lab space.
Give Lab groups or individual students specific, positive feedback for responsible and respectful cleanup behaviors.
As Lab groups are ready, transition them back to the whole group area for Reflecting on Learning.

Explore Lab