Sunday, May 25, 2014

How Many People Can your boat hold?

So there is this really fun and exciting experiment where students build aluminum foil boats.  Before they do, we talk about what a boat is and what shapes might be. After they have all built one, with no tape or glue, we put it in a tub of water and see how many people it can hold before it sinks.  The students love this activity.  I didn't get any pictures of the boats with the students this year.  If I think about it, I can post some from last year later.  The activity takes a long time but it is worth it in many ways.  We have to count each of the people which can be a struggle for some of the students (this year we did it at the beginning).  




After the students finished, we wrote in our science journals.  The students were able to record what they did and what they learned.  


We also had this chart with their estimate and the actual number their boat held.  When we finished, we discussed the best way to fold the boat so that it can hold the most people. 

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