01Beginner
The Beam
September pilot
Build a bridge that spans a 30cm gap and holds as much weight as possible from a bucket hung at the centre. The lightest, strongest structure wins.
⏱ 30 min build + 10 to test · 2 materials
tensile.
STEM activities for Transition Year
Build it. Test it.
Score it.
Tensile turns structural engineering into a measured competition for Transition Year. Assign a challenge, share a code, watch the leaderboard fill.
Load held
grams
Structure mass
grams
Score
load ÷ mass, ranked live
Challenge library
Three challenges. One formula.
02Intermediate
The Truss
In development
Step up from The Beam: height requirements and new constraints turn this into a real truss design problem.
⏱ 70 min build + 10 to test · 2 materials
03Advanced
The Suspension
In development
The advanced build: a new material changes what's possible, over multiple sessions.
⏱ Multi-session challenge, no time limit. · 3 materials
For TY coordinators
A structured STEM block your programme can plan around.
Tensile is a self-contained Transition Year activity: students build, test, and rank on a live leaderboard, while the teacher runs the session from a step-by-step guide.
Delivery
Guided, not improvised
Every challenge ships with a teacher guide and a student worksheet. The teacher facilitates a scored session, with no lesson planning from scratch.
Overhead
Nothing to install
A laptop, a set of scales, and lollipop sticks. No lab, no specialist kit, no software for students to download. They join with a class code.
Fit
Curriculum delivery
Designed to sit inside your TY programme as timetabled STEM: a measured engineering challenge, not a one-off enrichment slot.
Pilot 2026
We're running pilots in Irish schools this September. Built by a structural engineering student at MTU through the Student Inc. programme.