Activity
Teach Engineering

Keep Your Boat Afloat

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Use whatever material floats your boat. Working in groups, scholars decide on a type of metal and a type of coating to use for building a boat. They test their creations by leaving their boats in a pool of water for several days before...
Activity
NOAA

Boat Building Challenge

For Students 3rd - 5th
Scholars build a boat using an assortment of materials such as foam plates, aluminum foil, and skewers, then test its buoyancy with pennies. Challenge boat builders to construct the strongest or fastest boat in a healthy competition with...
Activity
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Teach Engineering

Clay Boats

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Clay itself sinks, but clay boats float. Why? Young engineers build clay boats to learn about buoyancy. They test the weight the boats can hold using washers and then tweak their designs to make improvements, following the engineering...
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DiscoverE

Everyday Engineering: Foil Boats

For Students 3rd - 8th
Keep one's dream of becoming an engineer afloat. Learners apply the engineering design process to build a boat out of aluminum foil. They start with a square boat, then consider whether boats of different shapes would be able to hold...
Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Build a Fuel Cell

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Discover the connection between redox reactions and fuel cells. Collaborative groups build a Hoffmann Apparatus that demonstrates the electrolysis of water and then convert their models into a fuel cell. They use their fuel cells to...
Lesson Plan
Center for Precollegiate Education and Training

Buoyancy Boats

For Teachers 9th - 12th
What did the sea say to the boat? Nothing, it just waved. An inquiry-based lesson starts with a simple concept on the Archimedes Principle and challenges pupils to make something out of clay that floats. Then, they design...
Unit Plan
Arizona State University

Physics of Boats

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Let's go sailing! An instructive unit includes six lessons with multiple activities to teach scholars about density, center of gravity, buoyancy, and the Archimedes Principle. They can complete the final project of building a boat...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Floats Your Boat?

For Teachers 4th - 6th
This open-ended boat building exercise is meant to be part of a three-lesson series on ships. Links to the other two lessons are included. This particular part is mostly a group lab activity in which they build a boat, find its load line...
Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

What Floats Your Boat?

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
Clay's as good a material as any to build a boat, right? An introductory lesson sets the stage for two activities associated with buoyancy. The first involves building boats out of clay, while the second uses these boats to measure the...
Activity
Museum of Science

Paddle Boat

For Teachers K - 6th
Harness the power of rubber bands of all things. A hands-on activity has scholars design and build paddle boats. They learn how the elastic potential energy of rubber bands can be converted to the kinetic energy associated with motion.
Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Building a Compound Light Microscope

For Students 9th - 12th
What better way to learn how to use a microscope than building your own? A lab investigation has scholars use lenses from magnifying glasses and sheets of cork to design their own compound microscopes. They calculate focal length...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Boating Safety and Water Sports - Lesson 3 - First Aid

For Teachers 9th - 12th
What are the basic first aid supplies that should be on a boat? What should be done when someone stops breathing and/or their heart stops beating? Lesson three is only one of twenty-two lessons on boat safety. This lesson is about first...
Lesson Plan
DiscoverE

Foil Boats

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
How many pennies can an aluminum foil boat hold? That is the challenge in a collaborative activity designed to explore the concept of buoyancy. Learners use aluminum foil to build makeshift boats and test the weight they hold before...
Activity
DiscoverE

Curious George Sailboat

For Teachers K - 2nd
A whole-group discussion kicks off a hands-on activity that challenges young engineers to build a sailboat using reusable materials. Participants gather recycled items to assemble their one-of-a-kind sailboat and test its ability to...
Activity
PBS

Watercraft

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Whatever floats your boat—with some additional weight. The first activity in a five-part series challenges pupils to design a boat to hold pennies. Using the design process, learners design, build, and test their boats, making sure they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cardboard Boat Challenge

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students build a boat out of cardboard and tape. They apply Archimedes' Principle to their design.
Activity
Science Friday

Make a Model of a Home Made From Shipping Containers

For Teachers 6th - 10th Standards
Build a scale model of a home built out of shipping containers. A hands-on activity has scholars watch a video about a home built from shipping containers and then design their own home. They build scale models of their designed homes...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Buoyant Boats

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students design and construct a boat out of aluminum foil and a few other simple materials. The boats then be tested by floating them in water, then adding mass until they sink. They explore the various shapes of boat construction.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Transportation Systems: Two Liter Boat Activity

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students design and build full-size boats made out of two-liter plastic bottles, chicken wire, and plywood. Then they race the boats, with the boat's designers "manning the hull", in the school's swimming pool.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dragon Boats

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students create a model boat. In this art lesson plan, students identify what makes a boat float and use milk cartons to create their own boat.
Lesson Plan
Bonneville

TinkerCAD: Introduction to 3D Printing

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Steer young minds to build better boats. Future engineers first spend a few days exploring the TinkerCAD software and completing some embedded lessons. They then design sea crafts with buoyancy in mind and print them using a 3-D printer.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Boat Hull Design

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Working in small groups students develop three alternative boat designs. They discuss the rationale for the type of hull, propeller, location of ballast, and type of building material used in their design. They build their boat.
Lesson Plan
National Sailing Hall of Fame

How a Sailboat Works: Hull Speed and Buoyancy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
How can you determine the maximum speed of a sailboat? A sailing presentation included with a straightforward lesson plan prompts learners to calculate the maximum speed of a sailboat with a displacement hull. The...
Activity
Reading Resource

Flower Building Long Vowel Game

For Teachers 1st - 3rd Standards
Reading can be as lovely as a walk through the garden! Sets of flowers host words that share long vowel sounds, which kids match to the correct flowerpots.