Science Fair with Grade 4/5/6

At Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary school, our group decided to conduct a science experiment intended for students in grade 5 and 6. Students who came to our station learned about buoyancy, including force, density, volume and surface area. Students were given a brief two minute lesson on these topics before being given any materials. They were then given 12 popsicle sticks, a sheet of tin foil, one meter of masking tape, and bubble wrap to build rescue boats/rafts in seven minutes. We chose to provide a variety of loose parts to allow students to discover multiple ways of combining different materials to reach their goal of building a boat that floats. Students had to collaborate in groups of two or three to design a boat that would carry as many pebbles (people) as possible, before sinking. The first test was the sink or float test. Students placed the boat they created into a bin of water and watched as their boat stayed afloat or sunk without any pebbles on it. If the boat passed the test, students would add pebbles one-by-one to see how strong their boat was. Once water began to enter their boat, the experiment was complete. If time permitted, we would ask the students questions about what they would do differently, if anything, the next time. We would also ask why they thought their boat was successful.

This activity was hands-on and engaging for visual and kinesthetic learners. Studies have shown that students who used strategies for learning as opposed to memorization achieved superior performance, thus leading to higher-level thinking (Boaler, 2015). By teaching through hands-on, fun activities, students learn in an interactive manner than can lead to a deeper understanding of material that they can build on in future lessons and grade levels. Finally, although for this situation there was a time limit, in a regular class setting, we would allow for more planning, building, and discussion time so that students would not be worried or anxious about the seven minutes they were limited to.

Observations

One notable incident that occurred during the activity was in the first round of students. This particular pair of students seemed timid and unenthusiastic about the science fair and participating in the activity. After showing the students some premade example boats, they slowly began to brainstorm and they watched other groups to get ideas. A few minutes passed and the students decided to use the entire piece of tin foil and created a large boat with tall walls. Using popsicle sticks, they made the outline of a square in the middle of the inside and put two popsicle sticks on the bottom that would touch the water. The most interesting piece of their boat was that they took the entire piece of bubble wrap and taped it on the outside of the bottom. This boat along with another boat from a different round both took similar approaches, such as using the entire piece of tin foil to create a large base and tall walls. In addition, both groups used very few popsicle sticks on the bottom as support and used the bubble wrap on the bottom of the outside. These two were the most successful out of all of the groups and held at least 70 pebbles without any leakage. We noticed that the boats that taped all of the popsicle sticks together to form a small square and only used a minimal amount of tin foil held about 13 pebbles and sunk fairly quickly.

Our activity has multiple learning outcomes as students explored different ways of designing and co-constructing a structure that floats in water. Furthermore, it promotes the development of important social skills, such as negotiating and collaborating with others. It was interesting to listen to the conversations between student H. and L. as they worked together cooperatively to build their boat. Since they were given a limited amount of resources, they needed to carefully plan out how they would use the materials in order to maximize efficiency. We also found that we can understand their thinking process better by asking essential questions to facilitate inquiry. Student L. said, “Put it (popsicle sticks) right here because sides are important.” When I asked, “Why did you put the sticks there? How do the sticks help?” She replied, “So it’s stable and not just floating around. The sides need to balance.” When they encountered a problem, such as running out of tape, student L. thought of the idea to bend the tin foil in order to secure the edges on the sides.

After creating the boat, students were asked to make two predictions– would their boat sink or float, and how many pebbles would it hold? They were eager to test out their project in water, and they were excited to try putting pebbles onto their boats. Our final verdict was that their boat floated, and it held 15 pebbles! Finally, we asked, “If you could change something to your boat, what would you change?”. They answered, “We would add more tape around the sticks on the side so that it supports the boat better.” This supported students’ reflection process, as they thought of additional possible ways to make improvements for their boat.

The third most memorable interaction occurred between two girls that partnered together. These two girls remember me (Mallory) from the first visit to the school. I remembered that they struggled with grade 5 level math concepts so I knew they may need extra support with developing ideas for their boat. They were both shy initially but one girl recalled my first interaction with her and how we had discussed her Indigenous culture. Rather than focus solely on getting the boat done, I complimented her on her medicine wheel inspired necklace and she immediately opened up. The pair worked well together however their boat did not support many pebbles. They relied mostly on popsicle sticks and glue without any sidewalls so they were only able to hold seven pebbles. After looking at the boats made by their peers, they acknowledged that next time they would add more bubble wrap and tinfoil, and make the sides higher. Despite only holding seven pebbles, one girl commented on how she was proud of their boat and asked to keep it so that she could show her peers.

This was a mind-opening activity for both us as educators and the students. It would have been interesting to see what other combinations students could create had there been more time.