First class have been learning about summer, the beach and boats in Bray harbour. Our focus was how boats float in the water. We discussed the importance of boats as the transport of goods/people, but in order to do so the boat must float. Firstly we brainstormed the properties of making a boat. We discussed materials that would be good or bad to float and why. We linked the Titanic which sank and concluded our boats would require good construction without any holes to avoid sinking.
In order to predict we needed to understand floating and sinking so we investigated with an orange. Once placed in water it floated at first and when pealed and re-tested it sank. This led us to discuss heavy, light, shape and size.
Next we begin investigating. After measuring the blu tack to ensure we all got the same amount we begin to conduct our fair test. The pupils predicted and recorded how many peas their boat would hold before they begin to pull and stretch the material.
Some begin to focus on making pretty looking boats and even added oars. This focus on the apperance of the boat rather than size and shape led to an interesting discovery when they tested their creations.
In testing our boats we had some difficulty in getting them to float. Some just sank as soon as their passengers (peas) were added.
We took some time to re-design our boats with a focusing on floating instead of looking like a typical boat. We improved them by experimenting with different shapes and curling the sides to keep the peas on and eventually got them floating.
Each group recorded their results in a table and we compared each group’s findings to conclude our experiment.
First class really enjoyed making boats!
