Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, Academy Street's third grade STEAM Club designed, built and tested their very own Mayflower-inspired ships during their November meeting.
The club focuses on cultivating curiosity and problem-solving through science, technology, engineering, art and math. This session challenged students to think like real engineers with questions like, “What makes a boat float?”, “What helps it travel faster?” and “Which materials will work best?”
Students planned their boat designs, selecting from an array of materials, including egg cartons, cardboard packaging, rubber bands, toothpicks, coffee filters, aluminum cans, tape and popsicle sticks. Each student named their vessel, sketched out their design and made predictions about how quickly their ship would cross a water-filled bin using only “wind” (or their own breath) for propulsion.
During testing, students discovered how material choices affected performance. Most notably, they realized that lighter boats tended to move more quickly across the water. The room buzzed with excitement as students compared results, refined ideas and celebrated their floating successes.
