STEAM: Build a Boat
For this weeks STEAM challenge we are going to be designing a boat. Using the materials provided you need to design a boat built for speed and/or weight. At the end of this challenge you will need to test your design in a small body of water, like a kiddie pool or large bin/bucket to see how fast it can travel and/or how much weight it can hold.
Materials:
- aluminum foil
- straws
- clay
- coffee filters
- paper
- cups
- cardboard
- styrofoam
- plastic wrap
- scissors
- pennies
- tape
- bucket/bin of water
These are just some suggested materials, feel free to use what you have available.
Activity:
What makes boats float on water? Why do some things float and some things sink? How do boats move?
The goal of this lesson is to explore these big questions and design your own boat that can float on water and move from wind.
Using the materials available, design your boat. Feel free to experiment with materials to see which materials float on their own, in what shapes they float better, and which materials provided structure and strength.
The second part this activity you are going to test your boat design on the water. Place your finished boat in the water. Does your boat float? Does it sink? Is water leaking in? Its okay if your boat sinks on the first try. Observe where your weak spot is in your design and redesign and try again. Once you have a floating boat its time to see if your boat can move and how much weight it can hold. To test if it can move choose a way to model wind. You can take it outside and see if the natural wind moves your boat, blow on your boat, use a fan, and blow out of a straw, etc… How does your boat move?
To test is ability to hold weight, gently place pennies on the boat, one at a time. . Place the pennies on the boat until it begins to sink. How many pennies can your boat hold? Mine held 34!
Activity 1: How Water Travels
Materials:
- Paper towels
- Leaves
- Scissors
- Clear cups
- Water
- Food coloring
Activity Part 1: Start this experiment by filling up 3 clear plastic cups with water. In two of the cups put 2 different colors of food coloring (works best with complimentary colors). Place cups next to each other so that the two colors are on the outside and the clear water cup is in the middle. Fold two paper towels hotdog style, long way, so until they are the width of a ruler. Arch the paper towel so that one end is in the colored cup and one end in the clear. Repeat with other side. Wait a few minutes and you should see the colors climbing up the paper towel. What color with the clear water turn if the two colors mix? How does the water travel up? What is this similar to?
If this activity isn’t working you might need to add more water to your cups so that its at the very top.
Activity Part 2:
Go on an outdoor walk and find some fresh leaves from trees.
Snip off the bottoms of each leaf stems and place stem in a cup filled with water.
Place food coloring (darker colors work better) in cup with water.
Observe the leaves closely, what do you notice.
Wait a day and observe the leaves again. What do you notice?
Wait another day and observe the leaves again. What do you notice?
By your third day you should notice color moving up the stems of the leaves and through the veins of the leaves.
Reflect: Why does this happen? How is the paper towel experiment compare with the leaves experiment? How is this experiment similar to what plants do everyday?
Science Behind Experiment:
The colored travels up the paper towel and the leaf stem through the the process called capillary action. Capillary action is the process that allows liquid to travel upward in narrow spaces.
Paper towels and plants are made up of fibers called cellulose. In plants there are capillary tubes that pull the water upward. In the paper towel its the gaps between the cellulose fibers that pull the water upward.
The water molecules cling to the fibers in the leaf and the fibers in the leaf through adhesion and the water molecules are attracted to each other and stick to each other through cohesion.
Activity 2: Build a Rain Gauge
Objective: To create a tool to measure the amount of rain received in yard.
Materials:
2 liter pop bottle
Scissors
Clear packing tape
Ruler
Rocks
Do:
- Cut top (1/3 of bottle) off 2 liter bottle so that you have two parts: one that looks like a cup and one that looks like a funnel.
- Pour several pebbles into the container and add water until it is one inch deep. This will help stabilize the bottle.
- Flip funnel part and place inside cup half. Tape the funnel to the cup along edges keeping the center open.
- Using a sharpie draw a measuring gauge ruler to the side of the container so that the bottom line is at the one inch water level
- Place the rain gauge outside on a level surface away from any overhanging tree branches or building eaves.
- To measure rainfall, get to eye level with the top of the water.
Reflect:
- What does the word ‘rainfall’ mean?
- What happens when it rains lightly?
- What happens when there is a heavy downpour?
- How can we measure rainfall?
- Will all the rain that comes down land in our rain gauge?
Apply:
- How will our rain gauge help us gather information about the weather?
- How much rain do you think we will collect in a ‘light rain’?
- Why do farmers need to know how much rain falls?
- Is there anyone else who needs to know how much fain falls?
- What do we call a person whose job it is to study the weather?
Extension:
- Record daily reading on a chart. Subtract the previous day’s reading from the current day’s reading to determine how much rain fell each day.
- Keeping a small amount of mineral oil in the gauge will retard evaporation over the day. The mineral oil will float on top of the rainfall as it accumulate in the gauge and form a barrier to evaporation.
Activity 3: Pond Study
Do:
- What lives around your body of water? What kind of plants and animals call it home?
- What kind of things might we look for in a healthy habitat?
- What would an unhealthy habitat look like?
- Do you have first hand experience with ponds, lakes, rivers? Imagine your favorite place to swim, boat, etc. What does it look like?
- Hike along a pond, lake, creek, or retention pond
- What practices should we use if we want to observe a variety of things?
- What should we do if we find animals?
- How will we identify the plants and animals we find?
- Use a clear cup or white bucket to scoop water out of the pond. Observe findings. Plants, insects, fish, etc..
- Now disturb the bottom of the body of water and repeat the last step. Observe your new findings.
Reflect:
- Did we find many living organisms or signs of living things? Bugs, animals, plants?
Apply:
- Do you have an impact on lakes, ponds, rivers, or streams when you visit, swim, boat, tube, etc?
- What could you do to minimize your impact?
Activity 4: DIY Fishing Rod
You don’t need an expensive rod to go fishing, you can make your own using a few inexpensive materials.
Materials:
- 4-5 ft long strong stick
- fishing line
- scissors
- hook
- bobber
- bait
- Tie fishing line to one end of the stick, this will be your handle. Wrap the line around your stick until you reach the tip of your stick. Tie the line to the tip.
- Unroll the line roughly 1 ft longer than your stick and then cut the line.
- Tie a hook to the end of the line and then attach a bobber to the middle of the line.
- Now you are ready to add bait and go fishing!