As part of his Science, Bob teaches his students about boat design. He takes his class from foundational discussions and experiments about what floats to working designs that students can actually ride across a pool.
So the question is: How do you go from
this âŠ
to THIS?!
Bob Ennenberg teaches grade 3/4 French Immersion at Porter Street Elementary. He walks his students through the process. He starts with the concept of float or sink. Students take things from their desks or from the classroom and predict whether they will sink or float. The students form hypotheses about why things float. At first, they hypothesize that heavy things sink and light things float. That is until they see a light paper clip sink and a heavy piece of wood float. Students readjust their hypotheses based on what they observe and from their discussions.
Further along the process, Bob breaks his class into groups of 4. The design teams are signified by their plasticine colours, and each team is given the same amount of plasticine.
Bob challenges the teams with design tasks using their plasticine such as which kind of shapes float? Or which boat designs will hold the most marbles before sinking or collapsing? (So far, 11 marbles is the record).
Throughout the design process, students discuss what they have done and compare boats within each group or with rest of the class. Students look at each otherâs boats and make their own decisions.
Students continue to design and prototype using different materials (including masking tape, tag, and overhead film). Bob really emphasizes the (French) vocabulary to go along with the Science concepts: flottabilité (buoyancy), stabilité (stability), densité(density), etc.
Students start to develop their final design by creating an architectural plan in two dimensions with top and side views. They create a net (développement) and draw where the cuts will be.
The big project is creating a child-sized working model. They take their 2-D group design and transfer it to coroplast which is like a corrugated plastic sheet. The sheets are large, 4 x 8 feet (120 cm by 240 cm), and Bob enlists parents to help by cutting out the design with a utility knife. The teams bind each design together with duct tape. The finished products end up being about 6 feet or 180 cm long.
Then, the really fun part!
The class takes their full-scale vessels to Spani pool to test them.
Bob is proud of his 100% success rate. Every boat has floated. In fact, some of the studentsâ boats can hold up to 3 kids (floating!). The class plays canoe soccer using kayak paddles borrowed from Gleneagle.
Students are engaged by the project (and the parents get into it also). When kids arrive in Bobâs class in September, they often ask if they are going to do the boat project. Bob got the idea about boat design from an adult-created kayak design contest using cardboard. You can see how Bob scaffolded the process for his students.
For more information, please contact Bob: bennenberg@sd43.bc.ca