Watercraft Design Challenge

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The Watercraft Design Challenge

Students were given the following challenge; build a boat with limited materials (see below) that is able to float for at least 10 seconds while carrying 8 heavy washers.  The boat is floated empty, and then the washers are added one at a time.

The materials they were allowed to use were:

• two 8oz paper cups
• 10 skinny straws
• a 25cm long piece of Saran Wrap
• duct tape

Before building their boats, we discussed the design process:

 
A key part of the process is it is iterative -- after you test your design you evaluate it and then tweak it, coming up with an improved design.

The students did an amazing job and the variety of boat designs was truly wonderful!  As they tested their designs they had to deal with making their boats more stable or more waterproof.  The best part of the challenge was that once each student or pair of students came up with a successful design, they were willing to do more: either make it capable of carrying more washers, or trying a different design or challenging themselves to make a boat with less materials.

Check out the slides below (link) to see the students in action:



This design challenge came from the PBS Kids Design Squad Activity Guide.

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