Straw Towers

The seventh grade students continued our unit on engineering using the design cycle.  Students created straw towers using tape, straws, and paper clips.  The tower had to be free standing and be at least 24 inches/2 feet tall.  It had to hold a tennis ball for 2 minutes.  The seams where the straws were attached could not be put together using more than 4 inches of tape per seam.  Several teams were able to meet the requirements.  Students had to disassemble the towers to make sure their use of tape was not over the 4 inch limit.