In honor of Columbus Day, students were given various materials and asked to create a boat they thought Columbus would be willing to sail on. (Read: a boat that would float and stay upright rather than tip over or sink when placed in water.)
Students were able to use fabric, buttons, toothpicks, corks, feathers, paper, and aluminum foil.
Once students explored the materials and created boats, everyone tested their boat in a bucket of water.
On the initial test, we had five students who created boats that floated without tipping over.
Observing what the five boats had in common, students were able to go back and create a new boat to try again. By the end of the lesson, all students had figured out that corks tipped on the side provided the stability necessary for a floating boat!
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