Build a Bridge

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Observe how small teams organize roles, test ideas, and solve practical construction constraints under a fixed time limit.

Use it when: Use during in-person team workshops or orientation sessions when you want groups to solve a concrete engineering problem together.

Skip it when: Skip when you lack physical construction space, cannot safely handle garden canes and cutting shears, or when working in fully remote environments.

Group arrangement: Teams of 4 to 6 people. Distribute any 1 or 2 leftover participants across existing teams to stay within 4 to 6 members, or assign them as quality observers.

Timing: Source specifies 1 hour for construction plus introduction, testing, and plenary review. UWT allocates 90 minutes total.

Materials and tools

• For each team of 4 to 6: 30 garden plant support sticks or bamboo canes (1 meter length)
• 1 pair of garden secateurs or sturdy shears per team
• 1 ball of string per team
• 1 roll of clear sticky tape (25 mm wide) per team
• 1 pack of standard index cards (approx. 50 cards) per team
• 2 broadsheet newspapers per team
• 12 standard pencils per team
• 1 tape measure or meter ruler per team
• 1 pair of craft scissors per team
• 1 heavy refuse bag per team for cleanup
• For testing: 1 shoe box containing 2 kg of weights, packaged sweets, or books per team
• Flip chart and markers for the facilitator
• Stopwatch or room timer

Before participants arrive

1. Arrange clear floor or large table space for each team, allowing at least 2 meters of clear working radius.
2. Bundle raw materials into identical kits, one per workstation.
3. Prepare the test weights in standard shoe boxes (each weighing 2 kg).
4. Write the bridge criteria on a flip chart or display board so all teams can see them.

Say this to open

Welcome everyone. Our goal today is to construct bridges that work. Each team will build one free-standing bridge using only the materials at your station. Your bridge must have a central clear span of at least 1 meter between inside supports, stand without being taped to furniture or walls, allow this shoe box to pass completely underneath, have a deck wide enough for the shoe box to pass along, and support the full weight of this 2 kg box as it crosses. You have 55 minutes to construct. You may plan, cut, and assemble as you choose.

How to run it

1. Introduce brief and specifications 5 minutes

   Review the criteria on the chart: 1 meter span between inside supports, clearance underneath for the shoe box, deck width to fit the shoe box, free-standing structure, and ability to bear 2 kg. Clarify that teams may ask questions at any time. Confirm every team has their complete material kit.

2. Construct and test prototypes 55 minutes

   Start the 55-minute construction countdown timer and set an intermediate alert for 30 minutes. Teams sketch ideas, cut canes with secateurs, cut paper with scissors, bind joints with string or tape, and assemble decks. When the 30-minute alert sounds, announce that teams should begin testing load bearing on prototypes. Circulate to answer factual rule questions.

3. Conduct official bridge testing 20 minutes

   Gather the room at each station in turn. Allocate 3 minutes per team for up to 6 teams. For each bridge, use the tape measure to verify the 1 meter clear span between inside supports. Slide the 2 kg shoe box underneath to verify clearance. Place the shoe box on the deck and slide it slowly across the span. Note whether each bridge holds without collapsing.

4. Debrief and clean work areas 10 minutes

   Conduct a plenary reflection using 1 or 2 chosen questions from the debrief list, taking 3 or 4 brief volunteer responses. Then direct all teams to dismantle structures, collect cut scraps into the refuse sacks, and return reusable tools.

Debrief questions

• How did your team decide on an initial design before starting to cut materials?
• What unexpected structural failure did you encounter, and how did you adjust?
• Did your team stay isolated, or did you observe and exchange ideas with other groups?

Finished output: Physical bridge structures evaluated against clear span and load criteria, followed by clean workspaces and shared observations on team execution.

Remote

This hands-on physical build cannot be replicated online without altering the core mechanic. For a remote alternative on collaborative problem-solving, run a digital wireframing or online escape room exercise instead.

Hybrid

Hybrid delivery is not recommended because remote members cannot share in the tactile cutting, balancing, and testing of physical structural materials. If hybrid is mandatory, place remote members into a separate, purely digital design cohort tasked with wireframing a technical solution on a shared whiteboard while in-person teams build physically.

Access and participation choices

• Participants preferring not to use shears can take on active non-cutting roles such as timekeeper, structural quality checker, or material binder.
• Anyone may contribute by observing, advising on design geometry, or guiding physical manipulation without handling sharp tools or heavy loads directly.

If the session gets stuck

Canes split or splinter when cut with shears.

Instruct teams to wrap a tight band of sticky tape around the cane at the cut point before clipping through.

A team attaches their bridge legs directly to the floor or table with tape.

Remind them gently that the structure must be free-standing. Ask them to remove the floor tape and add diagonal bracing to stabilize the base.

Terms used here

• Free-standing: Supporting its own weight without being taped, tied, or glued to tables, walls, or floors.
• Span: The horizontal distance between the inside faces of two vertical supports.