The Floating Bridge Project

 
Last year’s Bridge Project was so very exciting that we had high hopes for 2004. However, we have been bowled over by the sheer energy and enthusiasm of everyone involved. Bridges form an important part of our physical environment, especially in a city such as London. Understanding this structural phenomenon is an ideal entry into the whole of our physical ‘built’ environment. Our intention was to approach the idea of ‘the bridge’ from the perspective of creative writing, painting, drawing, scientific experimentation and 3D construction. This enabled us to think of the ‘bridge’ as both a physical structure which we could analyse and deconstruct, but also as metaphor or allegory of our emotional and spiritual lives. From the outset, the bridge we had in mind was to be a floating bridge, an idea which had its roots in the design discussions which had taken place the previous year. In essence, we began with the tension between a physical structure which would have to be strong and buoyant and an element which is fluid and intangible.


Everything started towards the end of the Spring Term with a creative writing project and an integrated painting project. We read three poems: William McGonagall’s ‘The Tay Bridge Disaster’, Longfellow’s ‘The Bridge’ and Will Allen Dromgoole’s ‘The Bridge Builder’. It is fair to say that these are not all ‘great’ poems, a fact which gave us lots of opportunity for constructive criticism. We relished the opportunity to discover that interesting poems are not always well written! In examining the structure of the poems, we were able to consider how we might write our own pieces of work with the idea that the structure of the poem might be a metaphor for the structure of the real or imagined bridges. We then made paintings of our bridges with the idea that we would be able to integrate the poems into the paintings allowing the structure of both to reinforce the ideas involved.

Over the Easter break, the children worked through a set of home science experiments which Peter and Cathi produced. The core of their activity was to think about volume, displacement and the behaviour of different materials in water; the homework was entitled ‘Eureka’! We had a wonderful morning at the beginning of the Summer Term, when Tim, Cathi and Peter came into the classroom to work with the children on some experiments extending from this homework. The children had brought in small objects which they had selected from around the home. We tested each object in turn in our large aquarium to observe its behaviour in water: would it sink, would it float or would it just partially submerge? By recording each object’s material qualities, its dimensions and weight, we were able to form conclusions about the key characteristics we would be looking for in the materials needed for the bridge. It was also a lot of fun working as together. Mogg followed up this work with some maths focused on the problems of calculating volume and capacity in solids and liquids.

At this stage Cathi, Peter and Tim also introduced the idea of making the bridge out of modules formed from recycled everyday objects and showed some images to the children of ‘boats’ constructed with used water bottles. The children loved this idea and immediately we started work on a pre-prototype which we tested to destruction in the classroom. This was very soon followed by Prototype #1. Constructed from 60-70 1.5l Evian bottles, assembled along their length and held together with cable ties, Prototype #1 was a milestone in the development of the bridge. We took this strange looking object to Shadwell Basin for testing. Mogg’s Group go canoeing every Wednesday, so this was the natural place to test our prototype.

 

So, there we were, standing in the Thames, clustered around Prototype #1, ready to lift the first brave volunteer. Sadly, we underestimated the ‘sheer’ – as our volunteer placed her feet onto the surface of the raft of upturned bottles, one of them slipped through the web of cable ties and we experienced a catastrophic failure! This was the best way to learn – we were able to capture the moment on DV camera and replay it all so that we might rethink our design for Prototype #2.
Prototype #2 was tested by the whole class - Peter, Cathi, Chris and Fabian put together the 5.5m swimming pool in the football enclosure in the playground and began to fill it with water. This, we realised, was going to be a very long process! 36 hours later, the pool was ready enough and, in front of most of the school, we began the testing. The water was indeed cold, but our spirits were high as we gradually attempted a greater and greater load on this larger structure. Eventually we had the three heaviest children on the pontoon and, although there was some submergence and creaking of bottles, the whole structure stayed intact and afloat. This was tangible evidence that our design was sound and over the next couple of weeks, Peter, Fabian and Mogg’s Group began to assemble the components which would be fitted together on the final day of construction. On the day before the climax, the whole school made a special trip to the Farmiloe’s Building to watch the pool being filled by the local Fire Brigade.

Overall this project has enthralled and enthused all of us with ideas about the world around us – why it is so shaped and formed and why and how we can learn to influence the environment which has so shaped and formed us.
Follow this link to find out about the big day!