Students at Memorial High School are taking on Mother Nature, seeing if their projects can withstand an simulated earthquake.
Last year there were hundreds of earthquakes in Oklahoma with a 3.0 magnitude or higher.
Krystal Medina, an AP science teacher at Memorial, wanted her students to think outside the box and create buildings they feel could withstand earthquakes.
"Like sheer walls and trusses, and cross bracing, and so to give them a little bit of knowledge about what a building needs instead of just slapping some Popsicle sticks together," said Medina.
They recyclable materials like cardboard, glue sticks and cotton balls, but like in real life, they come at a cost.
"They get charged tax and shipping, and there’s been a lot of moaning and complaining about that," said Medina.
"I’m not used to having a budget, it just really helped me with financing and actually learning how to build a house and spend money wisely," said Whitley Hargrave, a student at Memorial High School.
Students had one week to research, design, and build. An egg has to be somewhere inside their structure, symbolizing people inside the home.
"The egg will be supported and it will have a soft base where, when it shakes on the machine that it wouldn’t really do any damage," said Hargrave.
The building that costs the least and lasts the longest on the highest level of vibration wins.
"They really enjoy it and the one's that are usually not that active in class are the one’s who have exceeded my expectations," said Medina.
All of the buildings will be tested on the earthquake simulator machine on Tuesday. The winner of the competition goes to the district’s STEAM expo in February.
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