Engineering Time

We finished our formal science program about two months back, so right now we are working our way through a book about practical engineering applications in the world.  There is a lot of great vocab in the book along with hands on projects.  The kids are fans of hands on time, I always find it a bit of a challenge to rustle up the energy for the projects.  So far we've done three.  We've had a 67% success rate.  Spaghetti and tape towers, popsicle stick structures and one project with... potential.  We were supposed to construct chairs that could support 160 lbs out of cardboard and duct tape.  The creative thinking involved taxed the mental comfort level of one of the involved students.... since we're still above a 50% success rate, however, we will bravely continue forward!