Celebrate the engineering feats behind your community's structural wonders by having your Section, Branch, Chapter or firm host a Build-a-thon. Build-a-thons are one-day events that provide children and their families an opportunity to explore the inner workings of big structures and the challenges of building them.
Build-a-thon Basics
A Build-a-thon is a fun and informal way to share the excitement of engineering with your community. Below are just a few of the experiences you can provide at a Build-a-thon:
- activity stations featuring hands-on engineering activities;
- video monitors showing clips from the BUILDING BIG television series as well as short activity videos;
- computer stations featuring the BUILDING BIG Web site; and
- a large group activity in which every attendee can contribute, for example, building a giant geodesic dome out of newspaper.
Your Build-a-thon
Before you do anything else, ask yourself: who will be attending the Build-a-thon? The answer to this question will determine where to host it, which activities to select, and how many materials to collect.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- What is your ideal number of participants?
- How old is the average participant likely to be? The activities in the BUILDING BIG Activity Guide are written for 5th to 8th graders. Be sure to have an activity that both younger siblings and parents can enjoy.
- Consider how long a participant will spend doing an activity. This will impact how many people an activity station can accommodate and how many activity stations you'll need to set up.
- Are there other "attractions" besides activity stations that can occupy visitors if the stations get too crowded?
- Will your Build-a-thon be by invitation only? Or will it be open to the general public?
- How long will your Build-a-thon be? Two hours? Three hours? All day?
Choosing a Venue
A Build-a-thon can be hosted just about anywhere-science or children's museums, malls, parks, libraries, and recreation centers are all possible locations. Some criteria to consider when choosing your site are the following:
- How many people can the area accommodate?
- Is there adequate parking?
- How accessible is the location? Is it handicapped accessible?
- Are there bathroom facilities? Are they handicapped accessible?
- Is there access to electricity and phone lines?
- Are there computers available for participants to use? Or do you need to provide them?
- Do the computers have modems? Do the computers have Internet browsers? Plug-ins?
- Are there phone outlets nearby for internet access?
- Are VCRs and monitors available? Or do you need to provide them?
- Does the venue supply materials needed to run your event (e.g. tables, chairs, stanchions, sign holders) or will you have to rent them elsewhere?
- Does the venue require insurance or offer their own?
Scheduling
A Build-a-thon can be a two-hour evening event, an all-day Saturday event or other format. It depends on your venue, how many activities you want to provide, how many participants you wish to accommodate, and how many volunteers you have.
When determining the date for your Build-a-thon, be sure to factor in the time you'll need to secure your venue. And before you finalize the date, find out what other large events may be going on in your town during your event.
BUILDING BIG Resources
A variety of BUILDING BIG resources are available for your event:
- Activity Guide - Plan activity stations using the simple hands-on engineering experiments described in this guide. The guide will list the necessary materials, provide reproducible activity instructions, offer suggestions for leading the activity, and list additional resources.
- Poster - Display this eye-catching poster featuring artwork by David Macaulay to create excitement about the Build-a-thon and connect it to the series. Order a free activity guide and poster.
- The BUILDING BIG Video Series - Select clips from each of the five programs (Bridges, Domes, Skyscrapers, Dams, and Tunnels) to support the activities or provide the attendees with a feel for the series.
- Building Small - Set up a VCR and monitor to show these five-minute videos, located on the end of each corresponding program video, featuring kids doing hands-on activities. Then try the featured activities with Build-a-thon participants at activity stations. Printed activity instructions and a list of materials will accompany each video.
To order the series and the family vignettes, call WGBH Boston Video at 1-800-969-8670. Individual videos are $19.95 each. A boxed set of all five is $69.95.
- Web site- Set up a computer station for Build-a-thon participants to explore the BUILDING BIG Web site. The Web site will feature examples of modern engineering wonders, interactive simulations of engineering principles, and "field notes" from the making of the programs.
Suggested Event Activities
The following activities may work well for your Build-a-thon or you can substitute or add your favorite hands-on engineering activities:
| Activity From Guide | Web Link | Video Link |
| Straw Shapes | Shapes Lab | |
| Columns | Forces Lab | Thinking Big |
| Paper Bridge | Shapes Lab | |
| Newspaper Tower | Loads Lab | Building Small: Skyscrapers |
| *Geodesic dome | Dome Overview | Building Small: Dome |
* These activities and more can be found in the BUILDING BIG Activity Guide.
* Geodesic Dome is a large group activity. We recommend that each participant makes one or two tubes and volunteer engineers or architects work with the kids to add their tube to the dome. An ancillary activity to the giant dome is to set up a nearby activity station where participants can make a small geodesic dome out of toothpicks and gumdrops.
Materials
The materials necessary for the hands-on activities are basic household items (e.g., straws, toilet-paper tubes, metal washers, and newspaper). The amount of materials you'll need to gather will be determined by the number of attendees. We recommend setting up each activity in its own area with a 6-foot, draped table, chairs or stools for the activity facilitators, and an activity sign. Depending on the size of the crowd, you may also want to secure stanchions around the activity area, so as not to overwhelm the facilitators and guests.
Volunteers
Volunteers are your most valuable resource. The number of volunteers will determine how many activities you can offer. We recommend two facilitators per activity. Engineers make great activity facilitators not only because you understand the science principles behind the activities, but you can talk to the Build-a-thon participants about civil engineering career opportunities.
You'll also need some volunteers or staff to welcome guests, explain the day's event(s) and answer questions, and serve as activity floaters. If your event is well publicized, attendance may be quite high. In this case, you may need parking attendants and additional parking provisions.
Other suggestions:
- Schedule a training one week prior to the event to review activities and tips for working with the public.
- If possible provide volunteers with matching t-shirts (or other identifiable outfits) and nametags.
- Create an event schedule, complete with volunteer assignments, break times, and lunch time.
- Schedule a day-of-event orientation at least one hour before the Build-a-thon opens. At this orientation, give volunteers an overview of the day, assign them to their stations, give them their schedules, and review bathroom locations and other venue-specific information.
- Designate some volunteers as floaters. They can cover activity stations during assigned breaks and lunch time.
Training Volunteers
We've found that the best way to train volunteers is by doing the BUILDING BIG activities well before the event. Schedule a Build-a-thon training one week prior to the event. At the training provide snacks and drinks (pizza is always quick and easy), share the goals of the event with the volunteers, try out the activities, surf the BUILDING BIG Web site (if internet access if available at your event), and watch some TV! If you are able to host the training in the same location as the event itself, schedule a tour and show the volunteers where each activity station will be set up.
Give-aways
You may want to designate an area where volunteers can hand out give-away items to the visitors or photocopy the activity instructions for each activity table for families to take home.
Using and promoting BUILDING BIG
Oral acknowledgment
Direct your volunteers to tell visitors that the Build-a-thon has been developed in conjunction with the national PBS project BUILDING BIG. When discussing the television shows, include the fact that they are closed captioned and described.
You may also want to let participants know that if they would like to continue exploring civil engineering, there are additional resources for them to use. You may point them to the other BUILDING BIG activities that you are planning, or the BUILDING BIG Web site.
Print Recognition
All print mention of the Build-a-thon (a flyer for the Build-a-thon, invitations to a training, an advertisement in the local paper, etc.) must carry credit for the series and its funders precisely as written below:
BUILDING BIG is a co-production of WGBH Science Unit and Production Group, Inc. Major funding is provided by the National Science Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers. National sponsorship is provided by the American Society of Civil Engineers and Siemens.
Any time the BUILDING BIG logo illustration is used, please include the following copyright information: ©2000 David Macaulay
And finally please trademark BUILDING BIG (BUILDING BIGTM) the first time it appears in a document.
