"Float your Boat" Team Enterprise Sets Sail

aielloc
Jun 5, 2019
2 min read

Collaborative groups in Team Enterprise have been working hard the past couple of weeks to construct their boats. They were asked to design and build a boat made of only cardboard and packing tape that will float with all team members inside. Students learned how volume and buoyancy are connected, and performed math tasks connected to these skills.

Today we marched the boats over to Central High School so students could find out if their calculations and subsequent designs would be successful.

Each group took time to present to the audience before launching their boat. They shared what they'd learned, how they collaborated, areas of success, and challenges they faced throughout the process. After each group presented they brought their boat over to the edge of the pool for the moment of truth.

Students tested their final product in front of a large audience that included parents, teachers, principal-Mrs. Connors, our district superintendent-Dr. Lexmond, TMJ4 news, and videographers from Urban Misfit Ventures.

All 7 teams were successful!!! Every single boat floated AND was able to navigate around the shallow end of the pool holding the weight of 2-3 students. Way to go Team Enterprise! What an incredible project facilitated by Mr. Pollard. Students had the opportunity to apply math skills in a real world context, experience engineering, and practice collaboration with peers.

As a bonus, Mr. Pollard shared that he would never ask his students to do something he wouldn't do, so he also built a boat! Mr. Pollard enlisted Mrs. Connors to help him test out his model, they were also successful! What sports.

Of course after all that hard work we couldn't pass up the opportunity for students to take a quick dip :)