During the last week of February this semester, students in Principles of Engineering got a taste of what it's like to manage a major construction project. With help from Colorado State University's Construction Management program, teams of 4 assembled a section of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge using Lego blocks.
Teams started with a set of construction documents, then did a "quantity takeoff" to determine how many of each size Lego brick they would need. They further had to organize the materials needed into shipments and plan which parts of the bridge would be built in what order. All teams participated with positivity and hard work, but in the time limit given a winner emerged in each period:
3rd Period - Jose Malpica, Fernando Torres, Brando Hernandez, Manuel Gutierrez
5th Period - Allan Elliott, Greg Cardenas, Jair Garcia, Amit Steiger
Students spent some time reflecting on the activity the next class meeting and were able to call out some key academic and interpersonal skills that led to success. High on the list of academic skills were math, especially estimation and organization of values, and interpreting diagrams. Students named communication and patience as the major interpersonal skills that their team needed. Our big takeaway was that whether we're building a bridge or doing classwork, teams function at their best when members know their job and feel heard by their teammates.
Mr. Lapaire and his students want to thank Jennifer Fyhrie and the CSU-CM team for coming to High Tech and sharing the opportunities available in construction management. We look forward to future collaboration between our engineering pathway and the major program with the highest job-placement rate at CSU!
