The Day the Earth Shook

This lesson, based on the NOVA television broadcast 'The Day the Earth Shook', introduces students to engineering for earthquakes; specifically, architectural features that work and those that don't. The objective is to explore structural engineering through three design challenges; a relatively short, wide building; a home on a hillside; and a pyramid shape that focuses most of its mass near the bottom. Students are divided into three teams and each team is assigned one of the structure challenges. Each team will build and test its structure, record its results, then rotate to the next challenge until all three teams have attempted all three challenges. Educational levels: Middle school, High school