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Kristina Gallagher

Student Instructions

Offline Activity #1: Engineering Design: Penny Boat Challenge ⛵

For this activity you will need aluminum foil, pennies or other small weights, & a large container of water. Ask your family for help gathering these supplies. ⛵ Design Goal: Design a foil boat that can hold the most weight. 1. Sketch a few different ideas for the shape of the boat first. Tip #1: It is extremely helpful to do research before your sketch or build. 2. Measure and cut one 12 inch piece of aluminum foil. 3. Form the boat out of the foil according to your first design choice. 4. Test the boat by placing it in the water and adding the pennies (or other small weights). 5. Once the boat starts taking on water or sinks, count the number of weights it could hold. Keep this prototype. 6. Repeat steps 2-5, but try to improve your design. Do this as many times as you like, until you think you have the best design that can hold the most weight possible. 7. Add a of each of your prototypes & to this activity. Tell us which one held the most weight and how much weight it held. This is where pennies come in handy because if we all use the same weights we can easily compare them.

3rd Grade, 5th Grade, 4th Grade, STEAM
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