Hands-on Activity Keep Your Boat Afloat

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Explain the effects of changing the temperature or concentration of the reacting particles on the rate at which a reaction occurs.
• Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
• Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
• Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology

State Standards

Materials List

Each group needs:

• aluminum foil (for prototyping)
• white board or poster paper to record process and data

To share with the entire class:

• metal sheets (some options listed)
• copper 
• steel
• aluminum foil
• coatings (some options listed)
• wax paper
• petroleum jelly
• plastic wrap
• car wax
• primer
• dishpans, larger totes, or kiddie pool (for trial experiments and/or control)
• scissors
• leather or cut-resistant gloves (recommended)
• pliers (recommended)
• pennies (or other “cargo”)

Teacher materials:

• air tight storage container for metals
• small condiment cups (for measured coatings)
• salt (to add to water)

Worksheets and Attachments

Pre-Req Knowledge

Students should know:

• The definition of corrosion and how it can be prevented
• How buoyancy works
• Definition of ratio

Introduction/Motivation

Metals react differently to oxidation, based on their chemical properties. Corrosion of metals can be prevented in numerous ways, some of which involve coating the material, which will be tested during this activity. 

Cargo ships carry goods and materials from one part of the world to another. Because of their time spent on water, ships can start to corrode and rust. This is a problem for both cost and safety that needs to be taken into consideration for long term use of these ships. Today we will be engineering a design for a ship that not only holds cargo but also resists corrosion. Let’s dive in!

Procedure

Before the Activity

• Select materials that will be used during this activity as well as how long ships will be tested. 
• A budget for each group should be decided ($100 is recommended), as well as a price list for the available materials that are going to be offered to students (i.e., $10 per piece of metal, $5 per tbsp of coating, etc.).
• Aluminum foil should be cut to the desired size prior to activity (one per group). One sample of the other metal sheets (steel and copper) should also be cut before the first day so that students can look at and feel the metal before making a final decision on their design.
• During day 1, students can make a decision on their design (based on materials available and their budget). Teacher should cut the metal needed and put measured amounts of coatings in small containers for each group before the start of day 2.
• Build a sample boat of the metals being tested (same design, without coating). These will be the controls and should help students observe oxidation of metals during the trials.
• Using large tote or kiddie pool, teacher creates salt-water mixture and puts it in the desired container (before day 1).

With the Students

Day 1:

1. Launch the activity/challenge with real-world problem. (See Introduction/Motivation)
2. As a class, have students help build the rubric that will be used for final evaluation of their ship’s design.

• Ask students, “What are important factors that need to be considered when determining the success of each boat?”
• Ask students, “How will you determine whether a boat is successful or not?”
• Evaluation criteria that should be discussed:
• material choices
• design
• Factors to evaluate:
• Stability of boats (number of days floating, ability to hold cargo)
• Amount of corrosion (visual observation)
• Amount of material and cost (look at ratio: cost/number of pennies held)

3. Allow students to choose their groups and discuss designs, documenting their thoughts and notes on their whiteboard. Each group should look at the options for both metals and coatings. By the end of the day, students need to have their final material choices written down and given to teacher.
4. Each group will be given one sheet of aluminum foil. Groups should test their boat design (in water) to see how well it floats and holds pennies.  Students may use this time to purchase additional prototype material or change their design before they are given their final sheet of metal during day 2. Note: Students will only use aluminum foil during initial testing on day 1.

Day 2:

1. Students collect materials from the day before (whiteboard, prototype, etc.) as well as the materials (from the teacher) that they decided on the previous day.
2. Students may make changes to their boat design and continue work on their prototype, but may not change their material choices at this time. 
3. Students may not receive more than one sheet of their final metal (steel or copper), but may continue to purchase more prototype material (aluminum foil) if their budget allows.
4. By the end of day 2, students need to have their final ship built, tested, and coated. Ships can dry overnight before being placed in the water to allow the coating material to dry completely. 
5. Observations and notes should be made during this time, specifically looking at how many pennies the ship can hold (before sinking) and the cost of materials used.

Day 3:

1. Boats are launched and additional notes or observations are made.
2. Optional: list of team ships and the number of pennies they hold (as well as how many days each boat stays afloat). This could be updated as the trial continues.

Days 4-6:

1. Decide on how long the ships will be observed before the activity starts (3-5 days is recommended.) Each team should be given about 5 minutes each day to observe changes in their ship (floating vs. sinking, corrosion, water intake, etc.).
2. If a ship sinks, it should be left in the water to determine how well the coating holds up against corrosion. Teams can still make observations about their ship, whether it’s floating or sinking.

Final day:

1. Each group collects final data and observations. Based on their notes, they write a final evaluation and reflection about their ship design and its success.
2. Lead a class discussion on: corrosion observations, success of ship designs, etc.

Vocabulary/Definitions

buoyancy : The ability or tendency to float in water.

corrosion: Chemical change of a metal surface when it’s exposed to oxygen in the environment.

metal: A type of matter that is a good conductor of heat and electricity. Properties: typically hard, lustrous, ductile, malleable, and fusible.

rate of reaction: How fast a chemical reaction takes place; in other words, how fast a product is formed or a reactant is used up.

rust: Corrosion of iron and its alloys. A reddish- or yellowish-brown flaking coating of iron oxide.

surface area: The amount of reactant that is exposed to other reactants in a chemical reaction. The greater the surface area of a solid reactant, the faster its rate of reaction.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment:

Discussion Questions: Ask students the following questions to gauge their understanding:

• What is a metal?
• What types of properties do they have?
• What is corrosion of a metal and why does it occur?
• Is corrosion the same as rust?
• How can corrosion be prevented?

Activity-Embedded Assessment:

Recording: Each team will record data, observations, and notes throughout the activity. 

Post-Activity Assessment:

Reflection: Each team will write a final reflection and evaluate their team’s ship design. 

Rubric: The Keep Your Boat Afloat Rubric can be used to assess how well each team followed the engineering design process and the success criteria that was decided on by the group.

Safety Issues

• If using a metal that is sharp or more difficult to work with (such as steel and copper), gloves and pliers should be available for students.

Troubleshooting Tips

• Keep an eye on the water, especially if it sits for a long period of time. It may need to be switched out for clean water periodically.

Activity Extensions

• Students could create more than one ship design or test multiple coatings.

Copyright

Contributors

Supporting Program

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1609339—a Research Experience for Teachers program at Michigan State University. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.