Straw Tower

I started with a base of four straws.  I wanted that rectangular prism shape.  Then I strengthened the sides by cutting up two straws.  I connected two top straws together, then cut up another two straws to create a nest for the marbles.  After I finished building it, I did my calculating and realized that I should have tried to make it taller to get a higher score.  By that time I was down to less than 5 minutes, so I decided there wasn’t enough time to rethink it.  I ended up creating a figure that is 7 inches high, and had 20 straws left over.   

                              

                                 20 X (7-5)^7 = 2,560 points

What I would do differently would be to look closely at how to calculate the score, to really think through what I want to do.  I would build a higher tower and make sure I have left over straws.  My structure was successful.  I was even able to hold up a large and small box full of paper clips and the tape you sent to us.  I really enjoyed class tonight.  It is so much fun to actually get in there and build something ourselves.  You learn so much by doing it yourself.  I would love to do a STEM lesson using this idea.  It seems so simple, but you can get so much of a discussion from it.