Teaching Activity: 'Bridge of Sighs' taster or induction activity

This taster or induction activity can be used to introduce the concepts of scarcity and factors of production.

In the 'Bridge of Sighs' activity, teams of students must quickly construct a bridge to traverse a river using only the paper straws and tape provided by the teacher. The teacher tests the construction quality by placing a series of weighted objects on the bridges to find the most successful.

The activity can then be used to introduce the concepts of scarcity and factors of production as well as discussing measurement of productivity.

The download contains the teacher instructions, including the 'river crossing' template needed for the activity and a short Powerpoint presentation to assist with delivery of the activity.

Resource download available here