Databases: Shared databases are available to many
on the Internet to help scientific exploration proceed quickly
and efficiently. A database is like a library, and a single record
in the database like a book in a library. Schools have databases
of students, businesses keep such "libraries" of their
clients, and scientists keep databases of the kind of data they
want to explore. The Missouri Botanical Society, for example,
has a huge database of plants; Rice University has a wonderful
database of bridges.
Databases can be explored by
organizing the records in different ways. For example, you can
browse, or look over, the whole collection. You
can search for one specific thing, You can sort
the records according to date, author, or another means.
Working together we will make
a neighborhood database of bridges in order to explore what they
have in common, how they differ, and in order to begin to think
about what makes a bridge strong and flexible and long-lasting.
At the same time we will think about what makes a good database.
For example, how similar does each entry to the database have
to be in order to be comparable?
Bridges: While other animals have been forced to
go out of their way when meeting obstacles such as water, humans
for thousands of years have built bridges. Because of the power
of bridges to extend pathways and help the movement of supplies,
their location has been a focus of many territorial fights. These
fights, such as those captured in the roman legend of Horatio
at the Bridge or the Persian story of Sorab and Rustam are passed
down to the next generations as cautionary and inspiring tales.
Bridges are also works of human
tool-making and art at its best. To build a bridge that is both
strong and flexible, long-lasting and elegant has been the goal
of many designers. Towns and cities have much invested in their
bridges, as a collapsed bridge can take a terrible toll in immediate
loss of life and cost of daily commerce. Why are some strong
and others weak?
Bridge builders have had their
own cultures, and the stories of those workers recruited to do
the dangerous work of bridge building are the stuff of legends.
When a bridge using workers of the Mohawk nation of the U.S.
collapsed, more workers from the reservation, rather than less,
volunteered for the next high-flying construction work!
1. Photograph or draw your
local bridge. Be sure that you represent the following:
- the entire length of the bridge
- that which is being spanned, whether
road, water or something else
- the supports for the bridge
- both close-ups (for materials)
and far perspectives of the bridge
2. Fill out as much of the
Bridges Database Information
Sheet as much as you can, and enter it in the
Neighborhood in the Database of the Bridges Building.
Questions about your bridge type?
Visit the Web site Bridges
from Rice University in Texas,
http://www.civil.rice.edu/scripts/bridges/features/list.asp?sortby=type&opennew=2&images=1
Bridges will come up sorted by
type.
3. Investigate the images
and develop a schematic drawing, in which only the key support
pieces are represented.
Consider
What makes your bridge strong?
What makes it flexible?
What makes it long-lasting?
4 .
Post your representations on the Neighborhood.Compare
your bridge with those bridges of others.
Extensions:
Visit
other databases on the
web, such as a National
Database of Plants. Type "database" plus "+"
or "AND", depending on your search engine protocol,
and add something that interests you.
Find out more about your bridge, when it was built, by whom, and what
stories are associated with it.
Visit
other Bridges
Collections. http://www.pubs.asce.org/calendar.html
Do
more activities on HTTP://WWW.DISCOVERYSCHOOL.COM
Copyright: This
lesson was developed for the Inspire Education Company, and shared
with BEACON.
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