Materials List: Whatever Floats Your Boat!

  • assortment of building supplies such Styrofoam bowls and plates, aluminum foil, paper, saran wrap, plastic bottles, cardboard, construction paper, straws, bubble wrap, rubber bands, string, paper/binder clips, notecards, tacks, pipe cleaners, clothes/safety pin, popsicle sticks, skewers, plastic silverware, plastic cups, paper plates, paint sticks, cardboard tubes, toothpicks and yard sticks (see the Materials and Pricing List for more ideas)
  • assortment of adhesives and tools such as staplers, duct tape, packing tape, white glue, cement glue, hot glue, tape, box cutters, scissors, markers and colored pencils, rulers, and protractors
  • pool to hold water; consider using a kiddie pool, an indoor pool, or building one out of PVC pipes or wood and tarps)
  • electric fans to provide “wind” for boats; supply two fans if students race their boats in two lanes
  • digital scale to weigh boats and the cargo
  • metal washers, coins, or something with mass to use as cargo
  • Materials and Pricing List

Students use glue and other adhesive material at a table to construct their boats.
Students work on designing their boats in class.
copyright
Copyright © 2018 Natalie Bowen, College of Engineering and Technology, Central Michigan University

https://www.teachengineering.org/makerchallenges/view/cmu-2452-boat-design-constraints-engineering-challenge