Cardboard City Project

PA STEELS Standards (K–8)

🧪 Scientific & Engineering Practices (SEPs)

These apply across all grade bands (K–8):

• SEP1 – Asking Questions & Defining Problems
  Students identify the design challenge: build structures, systems, or city components using cardboard.
• SEP2 – Developing & Using Models
  Students sketch, plan, and model buildings or city layouts.
• SEP3 – Planning & Carrying Out Investigations
  Students test stability, strength, and functionality of structures.
• SEP4 – Analyzing & Interpreting Data
  Students compare designs, evaluate failures, and refine structures.
• SEP5 – Using Mathematics & Computational Thinking
  Students measure, scale, calculate area/volume, and use geometry in design.
• SEP6 – Constructing Explanations & Designing Solutions
  Students explain design choices and propose solutions to city‑based problems.
• SEP7 – Engaging in Argument from Evidence
  Students justify which designs best meet criteria and constraints.
• SEP8 – Obtaining, Evaluating & Communicating Information
  Students present their city, structures, and design process.

🔧 Engineering, Technology & Applications of Science (ETS)

ETS1.A – Defining & Delimiting Engineering Problems (K–8)

• Identify the problem (build a functional cardboard city).
• Define criteria (stability, creativity, purpose) and constraints (materials, time).

ETS1.B – Developing Possible Solutions (K–8)

• Brainstorm building designs, transportation systems, or city features.
• Build prototypes and test them.

ETS1.C – Optimizing the Design Solution (K–8)

• Improve structures based on testing and peer feedback.
• Strengthen joints, adjust dimensions, or redesign for stability.

⚙️ Physical Science (PS)

PS1: Matter & Its Interactions

• Explore properties of cardboard (rigidity, flexibility, strength).
• Investigate how materials behave when cut, folded, or reinforced.

PS2: Motion & Stability: Forces & Interactions

• Understand how balance, center of mass, and force affect building stability.
• Explore how structures withstand pushes, pulls, and gravity.

🌎 Earth & Environmental Science (ESS)

ESS3: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

• Explore how cities affect the environment.
• Consider sustainable building choices (reuse, recycling, green design).

🏙️ Environmental Literacy & Sustainability (ELS)

ELS1: Interactions & Systems

• Understand how city components (transportation, housing, energy) interact.
• Explore how human systems depend on natural resources.

ELS2: Sustainability & Stewardship

• Use recycled materials (cardboard) responsibly.
• Consider environmental impacts of city design.

ELS3: Community & Citizenship

• Collaborate to design a shared city.
• Make decisions that support community needs.

📐 Math Connections (K–8)

• Geometry: shapes, nets, angles, symmetry, 3D structures
• Measurement: length, height, area, volume
• Ratios & Proportions (6–8): scale models, enlarging/reducing building plans
• Data: comparing structural performance, recording test results