The workshop began with Hun and Krista explaining how a structure will buckle if too much weight is put on it. Then, the students worked in groups of three or four to brainstorm how a structure should be built using straws so that it could hold the most weight (measured by placing marbles in a cup) possible. After each group had their plans drawn out, they were given two cups filled with 500 straws total. After that the kids built their designs as close to their drawings as possible.
After the groups where done building their structures, everyone gathered around as marbles were placed into the cups to see how many the structure could hold before toppling over or buckling. The students were able to learn a lot about how the maximum capacity that something can hold depends on the way it is built and how much support it has.