Canstruction
Act One: Take a look at the pic. What questions come to mind?
Just before Thanksgiving there is an annual demonstration at the Winter Palace in the World Financial Center of New York City. Canstruction is a celebration of design, of engineering, and of donating time, talent and food to the hungry. At the end of the exhibit all the amazing creations are dismantled and thousands of cans of food are given to hungry people via soup kitchens, food banks, shelters and senior homes. Canstruction, Inc now has events in over 200 cities worldwide.
Here is a picture of an exhibit called “Downside Up” which was the winning exhibit from Canstruction, 2010, in New York City.
Act Two: How many cans does it take to build this structure? What information do you need to determine this? How did you determine your solution? Here is a link to an additional picture of this structure photo credit: http://www.writingwithmymouthfull.com
CCSS: 4.MD.3 , 6.EE.1 , 5.MD.5 , 7.G.6 , F-LE.2
Act Three:
- We have our solution, which you can find here: canstruction-solution.pdf.
- You can also find a different solution at the website that covered the event: http://www.glenwoodnyc.com/manhattan-living/canstruction-nyc-2010-at-the/. How they got their solution isn’t explained here but there are some other lovely creations to view.
SEQUAL: As an extension, consider asking students to estimate the number of cans in any of the exhibits shown in the movie that you can see here, Canstruction.m4v.
