Bridge-building: How civil engineers made our world (Years 10 and 11)

Class capacity: 30 

Year group: 10-11

Subject: Civil engineering and its applications

Attendee requirements: None

About: This masterclass will introduce the subject of civil engineering, explaining what it is and the wide variety of areas it covers through a short discussion of the subject and its applications. Some (very simple!) fundamentals of structural engineering will be introduced which will be applied during the main part of the masterclass, the hands-on bridge building activity. The students will face the challenge of building the strongest bridge they can using only paper and tape, with the added design challenge of trying to keep their structure as light as possible (materials cost money!). The session will finish with an interactive demonstration of how some of the lesser known fields of civil engineering (like wind engineering and earthquake engineering) combine with structural engineering in design.

Additional information: School bookings only. Schools will be limited to 10 places for this class.

To find out more about any of the masterclasses, please email masterclass@contacts.bham.ac.uk.