Turn your pupils into engineers who are able to use scientific principals to design a ship. This long-term project expects pupils to understand concepts of density, buoyancy, displacement, and metacenter, and apply them to constructing a ship out of clay.

Concepts

density, buoyancy, displacement, volume, ships, center of gravity, volume of rectangular prisms, vehicle design, technology resources

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Instructional Ideas

• If time allows, ask groups to redesign and retest their prototypes based on the evaluations of their first designs

Classroom Considerations

• Hands-on activities require a a variety of materials, some of which will need to be purchased or donated by parents

Pros

• A hands-on project that requires students to calculate design principals and then test their predictions
• Lesson is designed for both Common Core Math Standards and Next Generation Science Standards

Cons

• None

Common Core

HSN-Q.A.1 HSN-Q.A.2 HSN-Q.A.3 HSA-CED.A.1 HSA-CED.A.4