When you were little, did you want to be an engineer?
Did you even know what an "engineer" was?
My students learned early on that they ARE engineers and each one of them has the potential to be an engineer when they grow up, if they choose!
At the start of the year we did a fun little lesson on using the engineering design process to create foil boats. We put them to the test to see how many washers they could hold before sinking.
As a class we read some books about boats and discussed what different boats do and how they appear different from others - i.e. speed boats vs. barges.
Students used their Science notebooks to draw out their designs. Each student was given (2) 4" x 4" squares of aluminium foil. They could cut, fold or tear it anyway they wanted. They had to create their boat to hold as many washers as possible.
The kids had a great time testing out their boats. They talked in small groups about which boats were successful and why. They helped each other make changes to their boats and the next day they tested their re-designed boats. It was so fun to see the successes the second day when the students were able to modify their original designs and watch them float!
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