Group Members: ____________________________________________

Date: ____________________________

THE MISSION

Your mission is to design and build the tallest freestanding tower by following specific
material and time constraints.

Criteria Time & Design constraints Material constraints

Your tower must be o Your team will have 20 minutes o masking tape
o freestanding to build o 5 large plastic cups
o as tall as possible o 10 popsicle sticks
o be able to support the o 4 sheets of construction paper
weight of one base-ten o 1 base-ten thousand block
thousand block

ASK QUESTIONS
Phase 1

IMAGINE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Phase 2
Ask yourselfIs this possible?

Write a hypothesis.
Complete the following statement: When we place the base-ten block on our teams tower, the
tower will:

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 PLAN OUT A DESIGN
Phase 3
Remember to label the materials in your design and write why you chose them.

 CREATE YOUR DESIGN
Phase 4

Follow the initial plan (You can make changes later)

Use the sketches from the planning phase.

Final Design Specifications What materials did you use in your

design?
Height: ____________
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EXPERIMENT & TEST THE MODEL

Phase 5
HOW CAN I IMPROVE THIS?

Record your observations. Describe what happened when you placed the base-ten block
on your tower?

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 EXPERIMENT & TEST THE MODEL
Phase 5
HOW CAN I IMPROVE THIS?

Was your tower unstable before you placed the base-ten block upon it? Yes No

Did the tower collapse after you placed the base-ten block upon it? Yes No

If you answered yes to either question above, explain how your team could improve
the design to make sure these errors would not happen again.

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Please note any new understandings or ideas that could help your team work better.

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