On Monday, February 12, Ben Porat Yosef students from grade one through eight participated in an honored school tradition, an interactive and extraordinary day of learning that students anticipate all year, which is part of the school program of Discovery Learning. This Discovery Learning Day, the engineering challenge was “How can we build structures to withstand natural hazards?”

In preparation, older students examined techniques that engineers use to create buildings that can withstand earthquakes and hurricanes. First and second grade students read”The Three Little Pigs” in their literature study and planned how to build a structure for a pig to stay safe in a home from the big, bad wolf. To start the day, students worked in groups to build structures out of dowels and rubber bands with the challenge to fit as many members inside as possible. As an added challenge, students were not allowed to communicate verbally. Students learned the value of communication and working together collaboratively under challenging conditions.

During this challenge, many students recalled that triangles help create the strongest structures from a previous Discovery Learning Day about building bridges and successfully created impressive structures that could fit all of them inside. Students in the elementary and middle schools then worked on building structures with partners that could either withstand blow dryers and fans at varying levels of strength to simulate hurricanes or shake tables with varying degrees of intensity to simulate earthquakes.