Audience: Secondary School
This is an individual competition with some great prizes. The competitions aimed at Transition year students but anyone currently registered as a secondary school student in Ireland can enter. The competition has proved itself as a powerful educational tool – it has been running for a number of years as a national competition in the USA.
Pupils can download free software and work on their entries during the week.
Students can download the free software at: https://bridgedesigner.org/download/
The software is simple to navigate and students will be able to instantly test their designs by running a simulation. They will be able to experiment with various configurations and tweak their designs for greater efficiency. For a comprehensive tutorial guiding through the creation and optimization of a bridge design can be found at: https://bridgedesigner.org/tutorial/
There is no limit to the amount of different bridge designs submitted or how often a design is revised. After the competition deadline of 1.00pm on Friday 11th March 2024, the team that has produced the cheapest successful bridge wins!