{"id":6207,"date":"2026-04-27T21:56:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T20:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/stjosephsprimary\/?p=6207"},"modified":"2026-04-27T21:56:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T20:56:35","slug":"%f0%9f%8c%89-stem-bridge-building-challenge-with-clark-contracts-%f0%9f%8f%97%ef%b8%8f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/stjosephsprimary\/?p=6207","title":{"rendered":"\ud83c\udf09 STEM Bridge Building Challenge with Clark Contracts! \ud83c\udfd7\ufe0f"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Friday 24th April, our P5\u20137 class welcomed a very exciting visitor into school – Hugh Montague from Clark Contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark Contracts work in construction, refurbishment and maintenance, and Hugh spoke to the pupils about some of the projects they have been involved in, including work happening locally at the historic George Hotel in Stranraer, which is currently being redeveloped. It was great for pupils to hear about real careers and projects happening right on their doorstep!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hugh then led a brilliant STEM bridge building challenge, where pupils had to work in teams to design and build their own bridge. Before beginning, they learned about different types of bridges and explored the names and features of structures such as beam bridges, arch bridges and suspension bridges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pupils were split into three teams<\/strong> and each group was given:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83e\udeb5 Two pieces of wood (placed a set distance apart)
\ud83e\udd64 Paper straws
\ud83e\udeb5 Coloured lolly sticks
\ud83d\udcce Large and small bulldog clips
\ud83d\udfe3 Play-doh
\ud83e\udea2 Elastic bands<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using only these materials, teams had 30 minutes to design and build a bridge strong enough to span the gap between the wooden platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final challenge was then to test how much weight each bridge could hold. Each bridge needed to hold the weight for at least 10 seconds, but the overall winners would be the team whose bridge held the greatest amount of weight before collapsing. This made the final testing very exciting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The classroom was full of energy as pupils worked against the clock. They showed fantastic teamwork, resilience and creativity while solving problems, adapting designs and encouraging one another. We saw so many brilliant Meta-skills being used throughout the challenge, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2728 Collaborating
\u2728 Communicating
\u2728 Critical Thinking
\u2728 Creativity
\u2728 Adapting
\u2728 Initiative
\u2728 Leading
\u2728 Sense-making
\u2728 Focusing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teamwork and encouragement between pupils was fantastic, and everyone supported one another brilliantly throughout the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83c\udfc6 Congratulations to our winning team \u2013 The Cherry Blossoms!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their bridge managed to hold an incredible 1.2kg<\/strong> before finally collapsing \u2014 a huge achievement!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team members were:
\u2b50 Robin
\u2b50 Katie
\u2b50 Ava G
\u2b50 Nanci-Rose
\u2b50 Danna<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winning team received certificates and a small prize for their fantastic effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A huge thank you to Hugh from Clark Contracts<\/strong> for delivering such an engaging and inspiring workshop. It was a fantastic afternoon of STEM learning, teamwork and problem-solving \u2014 and who knows, we may have some future engineers in our class! \ud83c\udf09\u2728<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83c\udf0d UNCRC Links<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n