What's the Magic of Boats?

Student Reflections

If we wouldn’t have known about buoyancy and density, we wouldn’t have been able to make our boat. Calculating the buoyancy really helped because when our group calculated it, we figured out that our boat wasn’t big enough, so without the calculations, we would have sank!

- Adrian Sandoval, 4th Grade

The calculations were hard for me, so I really had to be confident about myself to get those right. If I would have got those wrong, my boat would have sank. I became confident because some of my group members helped me, and I learned. Then I got it, and they felt confident in me, too!

- Kannen Salmon, 4th Grade

The most important part of the boat project was collaborating with my group because we would figure out things and we won’t argue to each other and I think we got a very good product of our boat.

- Izabelle Pusung, 4th Grade

Teamwork helps you with building and pretty much everything, most importantly making your boat successful. Some things a lot of groups struggle with is IDEAS. You need to be oh so careful on sharing ALL IDEAS. If you don't, you will be stuck with one idea which would NOT be good.

- Cadence Gossler, 4th Grade

Julia Jacobsen, Kim Tsai, Stacey Lopaz

High Tech Elementary, Chula Vista

Project Description

During the course of this 12-week project, students explored the question, “What is the magic of boats?” They learned about the allure of boats by embarking on several boating excursions in kayaks, row boats, and outrigger canoes. They investigated the impact that boats have had on our history while visiting the replica of the San Salvador, and the Cabrillo National Monument. They also delved into the physical magic of how boats float, using their knowledge to construct a boat using cardboard and tape that would float their entire group of three to four students.

Students began the project by writing creative stories about where boats can take them. They discovered the history of boats and the purpose of boats in history. In week two, students dived into the science of boats. How do boats float and how are they made? By week three, students explored deeper into the history and science of boats.

Towards the end of the project, students began mini-challenges and constructing boats. Students designed models of their boats using Google Sketchup to ensure the dimensions were appropriate to hold their weight. They created scaled models of these designs and used math and science to discover the sinking point. Throughout the process, they used trial and error, critique and inquiry to understand how to best construct the model of their boats to float their entire team in the San Diego harbor.

Individual Products:

Creative writing stories with peer critique
Boat relief prints

Group Products:

Small group presentations of history/purpose of boats
Mini boat models
Student created website pages
Large cardboard boat

Fieldwork & Expert Experiences:

- Maritime Museum in downtown San Diego

- Mission Bay Kayaking

- San Salvador Build Site

- Cabrillo National Monument

(If you have other suggestions for fieldwork or experts please let us know!)

Additional Experts:

U.S. Marine Captain
San Salvador build site chief operational director
R.E.I. safety instructor

Timeline:

Week One: Launch

Read, “Where the Wild Things Are”
- Discuss where boats travel to
- Spark imagination and creative writing
Reading and writing creative stories about “The Magic of Boats”
Learn about history and purpose of boats

Week Two

Critique, revision and produce 2nd draft of creative stories
Learn about history and purpose of boats
- Fieldwork: Maritime Museum in San Diego Harbor
- In small groups, create a Google Slide presentation and a tin-foil model to teach the history and purpose of a specific boat.
Science Water Investigations
- Learn about water “How do boats float on water?”
  - Forms of Water
  - Test materials for water endurance
Scientific inquiry and exploration by beginning to build mini-boats
- Building with aluminum, plastic, clay and cardboard
- Which material created a better boat model? Why?
- Introduce mass (grams)
  - Which boat can hold more mass? Why?

Week Three -> Week Six

Critique, revision and finalization of creative narrative stories
- Read to 1st grade buddies. 1st grade buddies draw illustrations of stories
Continue to investigate the science of boats
- What is buoyancy? Introduce Archimedes principle.
  - Fieldwork: Kayaking trip to experience buoyancy.
- What is density? Volume? How do you calculate it?
- What is displacement?
- What is the sinking point of boats?
Continue to learn about history and purpose of boats
- Fieldwork: Cabrillo National Monument
- Boat Rotation Groups:
  - California History + Student/Teacher Interests

Week Seven:

Create boat relief prints to represent creative writing story
Learn how to build a boat
- Fieldwork: San Salvador Build Site
Build a mini-boat challenge
- Build a mini-boat to hold 24 gallons of water

Week Eight -> Week Ten:

Boat challenge
- Groups of 3-4 students, calculate total mass of students
- Calculate density and volume of boat
- Design boat using Google Sketchup
- Construct a cardboard boat to float group of 3-4 students
Students get into groups to curate Magic of Boats website.
- Create movies, information about project and critique Google Doc pages to insert into website.
Boat Day (Students go to San Diego Harbor to test their cardboard boats!!)

Exhibition:

Kids will share the process of their learning, the purpose and history of boats, the math and science of boats, and teach community members how to build their own mini-boats.