Hands-on Activity Simple Snow Load Roof Model Demo:
Which Roof Is Tops?

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Understand that materials, both natural and human-made, have specific characteristics that determine their suitable use.
• Understand that engineering design requires creative thinking and consideration of a variety of ideas to solve practical problems.
• Explain why climate and natural disasters have an impact of how engineers design buildings and structures.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science

Common Core State Standards - Math

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology

State Standards

Materials List

• 3 shoeboxes or similar containers
• 1 poster board
• 1 newspaper and/or cookie sheet
• ~2 cups flour
• (optional) flour sifter or sieve
• Roof Shape Worksheet, one per student

Worksheets and Attachments

Introduction/Motivation

What shape is the roof on your house? What is the climate where you live? Can you think of reasons why the climate might influence the shape of your roof?

Ask students what type of natural disasters can affect the shape of your roof. Elicit responses from students. Explain that snowstorms and blizzards have a large influence on the shape of your roof because of the weight of the snow.  Architects and engineers who design homes in regions that get a lot of snow think about how snow builds up on the roofs. If a roof is not strong enough, the weight of the snow (the "snow load") may cause the roof to cave in.

Today you are an engineer designing a roof for a snowy climate. What roof shapes would you consider to prevent snow from building up on the roof? What types of materials would you use to build your roof to help prevent snow from sticking to it?

Procedure

Background

A model is a copy of an object that is too big, too small or too complicated, costly or dangerous to study easily. Engineers use models to test and study how well things are built or to test different designs. To an engineer, a  "load" is any force that pushes or pulls. For example, the weight of snow pushes down on a building, and that's what we call a snow load. A wind load pushes on the sides of a building and the structures of a bridge.

Before the Activity

• Gather materials. Obtain flour and containers to hold about 2 cups of flour. A flour sieve is helpful, if available.
• Make copies of the Roof Shape Worksheet, one per student.
• Gather a collection of photographs from the Internet that show different types of roofs in various climates to show the class.
• Create three model roofs for a class demo. Cut away one end of each box so that students can view the effects of snow loads. Use poster board to make three different roof types, one for each box: curved, A-frame and flat (see Figure 1 or the worksheet). Using a single piece of masking tape, tape each edge of the roof to the open top of the box. Place newspaper and/or a cookie sheet under the testing station to catch any loose flour (to control the mess and collect flour to use again in the next test).

With the Students

1. Show the class photographs of different roof designs. Talk about what types of climates each roof might be found in. What characteristics make a roof good or bad for a given climate? Incorporate the Investigating Questions into the activity.
2. Show the class the example roofs you prepared in advance. We call these models. 
3. Explain that the flour represents snow. Ask students to make predictions as to which roof would be best for a snowy climate.
4. Slowly sprinkle "snow" onto the center of the roof as students watch the roof through the open end of the box.
5. Have students make observations on their worksheets as the snow is applied to the roof and builds up to a weighty amount ("the snow load").
6. Repeat the process with each model roof type.
7. Conclude with a class discussion to share and compare observations and conclusions. Refer to the Investigating Questions.

Assessment

Questions: Throughout the activity, ask students the Investigating Questions to gauge their comprehension of the concepts. Refer to the Rubric for Performance Assessment for suggested criteria to assess their knowledge and understanding of the concepts.

Investigating Questions

• Predict: Which roof type will cave in to the snow load the easiest? Why?
• What happened to each model roof when a snow load was applied?
• Does the "snow" pile up or slide off? Is this different for different roof types?
• Which roofs sag? What does the sagging mean?
• Which roofs fall down? Do they fall slowly or all at once?
• Which roof design is "tops" for snowy climates?
• In addition to snow loads, what other forces should we plan for? (The forces of wind and rain and maybe even earthquake shaking; weight of shingles or tiles plus gutters and walking people; falling tree branches.)
• Which roof shaphe would you want if you lived in a snowy area? A windy area? Rainy?
• What roof styles, shapes and materials are best for which climates and weather conditions?

Troubleshooting Tips

To avoid a flour storm after done loading one roof type, carefully lift the roof and gently tap the bottom so that the flour falls into the box. Empty the flour from the box into a container to be reused for the next test.

Copyright

Supporting Program