Oakleigh Grammar Spaghetti Bridge Record Smashed

Students in Years 6–8 Digital Technologies have put their engineering skills to the test through the Single-Span Bridge Engineering Design Challenge.

Students began by researching real-world bridges and investigating structural features, materials and engineering principles. They then used Artificial Intelligence responsibly to extend their research before creating 3D digital prototypes in Minecraft Education. These prototypes allowed students to visualise, refine and improve their designs before beginning physical construction.

Digital Technologies play an increasingly important role in modern civil engineering. Engineers use digital modelling, simulations, data and computational tools to investigate ideas, predict performance and refine solutions before physical construction begins. Through this project, students experienced this connection firsthand by moving from research and digital technologies to prototyping, construction, testing and evaluation.

Working within strict material and design constraints, students constructed single-span road bridges using spaghetti and hot glue before progressing to the highly anticipated structural load testing.

This year produced exceptional results. Year 7 students Mengxi-Mancy and Yijun-Candice established a new Oakleigh Grammar record, with their bridge supporting an outstanding 16 kg! Fellow Year 7 student Teoni achieved an equally impressive 15.5 kg.
These achievements smashed the previous school record of 8 kg, established in 2024.

With the new benchmark set at an incredible 16 kg, students are already discussing how it might be broken and are eagerly looking forward to the next Engineering Design Challenge in 2027.

Peter Akbiyik

Teacher, VCE Applied Computing & Data Analytics