THUNDER BAY -- Grade 2 student Xander Keller is solving the problem that caused the Nipigon River Bridge to fail.
The Five Mile Public School student said being taught what you've done wrong and what to do next is his favorite part of learning about structures.
"The peer and beams at the top were too heavy because I know the steel was at the bottom and the peer was pushing down on it so it might have broken it a little bit," said Keller.
When asked where his knowledge on the subject came from he said, "I just like watching Bill Nye the Science Guy. It started teaching me about structure."
Grade 1, 2 and 3 students joined a Lakehead University Engineering class on Wednesday to discuss their thoughts on what caused the recent engineering problem at the Nipigon River Bridge.
The LU class formed their presentation, complete with short videos, physical props and models, to fit questions Five Mile students submitted in advance.
Primary planning teacher Rebecca Cross said the students came to the school talking about the bridge and she thought that would be a great learning opportunity.
"We really needed to talk to experts," said Cross.
"We reached out to the Engineering department at Lakehead and we had two students come in and share information about what makes a frame stable, what's compression and what's tension."
Five Mile students had the opportunity to ask questions of engineering students regarding their next assignment, designing a model village called "Tiny Town."
"They want their little buildings to be wind-proof and earthquake-proof," said Cross.
"They are convinced that they are engineers, to me that's really exciting. It's been a really great opportunity."
