Friday, October 17, 2014

Straw Boat Challenge

What do you get when you combine ten straws, three inches of duct tape, and ten inches of plastic wrap? Why, a boat of course!

It isn't quite that simple, but that is what the fourth grade tried to accomplish this week. After some research on buoyancy and structure design, groups of 3-4 students tried to build a "boat" that would hold at least 25 pennies for the longest period of time.

This proved to be a much more difficult feat than the students originally imagined! We had several designs, but only one that ended up surviving the test period.

However, all of the students reflected on their learning, designs, and what they could change if we continued on the prototype path. This was a great STEM activity that we will revisit later in the year.

Group 1: Jenna, Jen, Rebecca, and Molly



Group 2: Spencer, Nate, RJ, Cal * This group came up with a design that maxed out the time at 2 minutes with 25 pennies. Way to go!




Group 3: Aiden, Dallas, Cooper




Dallas also gave it a shot on his own, but we didn't get a picture of his design.

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