Mr. Salsich's Class
Third Grade Explorations in Learning
Building Boats
We have been learning a lot about Properties of Matter. Properties of matter are the ways that we can describe matter. Some physical properties of matter are: weight, texture, color, absorbency, transparency, and many others.
We have done a few experiments to investigate density and buoyancy. From our egg experiment we learned that an object’s density (how thick it is) compared to the density of the liquid has a lot to do with whether or not it floats.
Buoyancy - Sink or Float
We also wanted to find out how the shape or structure of an object effects its buoyancy, so we made boats.
Mr. Salsich gave partners a limited amount of materials to try to build a boat that could float and also hold marbles. We tried to see how many marbles our boats could hold without sinking.
Here are the materials we were given:
4 rubber bands, 2 mini-sponges, 4 straws, 6 popsicle sticks, and a 6" x 12" piece of aluminum foil
We didn’t have to use all the supplies, but these were the only materials we could use.
Here is a video showing what we did and what we learned.
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(Special thanks to Taylor’s mom and Braedon’s mom for helping test the boats!)
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Have you ever done a “sink or float” experiment?
What did you learn the most from – your ideas that worked, your ideas that didn’t work, or from watching others?
How do incredibly heavy, steel ships float?
What was your favorite part of the activity?
29 Responses to “Building Boats”
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February 26th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Dear Students,
I loved how you presented your experiments with the boat building. Your voices were very clear, and it was obvious that you understood many scientific facts about buoyancy. You must be VERY smart children!
Sincerely,
Mr. Hamilton Salsich
February 27th, 2012 at 3:36 am
Mr S’s Class you keep raising the bar! This is the best science movie I’ve seen for your age group… probably any age group actually. I particularly enjoyed your self-assessment and reflection. It makes me want to go and see if I can find a use for the sponge!
Active learning is clearly the thing you guys love. I am going to share this movie in a staff meeting, I’ll also be sharing it with Mrs monaghan http://www.middlehampri2.posterous.com I was wondering what your ages are , 7-9?
You are being very helpful sharing your learning, I think you need to visit that great Ice Cream shop and do some experimenting down there!
Mr E
Hawes
aka The Robber
February 28th, 2012 at 11:39 am
That was great learning about floating or sinking. I enjoyed watching the scientists working together and brainstorming for the answers!!!
Keep up the good work.:)
February 28th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
My name is Keiko Ito. I am s student of EDM 310 at University of South Alabama. I enjoy your post and video. I think your teaching style is good for students because they could helped each other by means of making a partner. I am impressed that your students were interested in your class and they took a serious approach to the experiment. That helps me learn teaching students.
Keiko Ito
February 28th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Kia Ora Mr Salsich and students,
We enjoyed watching your movie about sinking and floating. You’ve made it easier for us to understand the concept better. We think your blog is cool too. We look forward to seeing all the other great work you do in your class.
From Miss Lavakula and Room 9
February 28th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Hi Mr Salsich’s class,
I think that’s an awesome video you took. I think it shows a lot about your class it puts a smile on my face when I see you and your class having so much fun. I like how you did a sheet of what you achieved and what worked the best. It sounds like tinfoil won! I really think that was a good idea. If you did not have tinfoil, is there anything else you could use?
Savanna
Room 24, Taradale Intermediate
February 28th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Hello Mr. Salsich’s Class
WOW! I have never ever seen something like that before. The science here is to do with liquids but more things to do with materials and recycled parts. If your boats topped the toy charts I will definitely buy one of your products.
Your blogger friend
Navajo
Room 24, Taradale Intermediate
February 28th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich and class,
I enjoyed seeing the techniques on how you learned the properties of matter. I also loved the video you created for viewers to see the actual experiment. The experiment was a very creative one and I would love to do something like this with my students when I become a teacher. I actually learned from your experiment because when I was in school, I never got the opportunity to do experiments like this one. Congratulation on the successful learning experience and I hope to see more!
February 28th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Hello Mr. Salsich’s class
I’m a student at Taradale intermediate school in New Zealand. Wow! I saw the liquids floating on liquids. At science time in Korea at school I did it with my friends, it was great! But we didn’t do many of colours so I want to do it more. And the colour is very colourful so I like it.
Your blogger friend
Ryeogeun
Room 24
February 29th, 2012 at 11:15 am
Hello, class!
I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I am very impressed by this class’s ingenuity and resourcefulness in building their boats. What a great project! Every one did such a wonderful job, not just with their boats, but with understanding why some things worked and others didn’t. Learning how to self-evaluate is just as important as learning the concept at hand (i.e. buoyancy). Thank you for sharing your class project! I have enjoyed your other blog posts as well! Keep up the good work!
-Jessica
February 29th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
Mr. Salsich, I am a student in EDM 310 at the Unveristy of South Alabama. I really enjoyed your blog post. Properties of Matter is one of my favorite topics in Science. I can recall doing the “egg experiment” as well as the “sink or float” experiment many times while I was in elementary school. Thanks for helping me rechannel those memories.
The video was well put together. It displayed how cooperative learning is used thoughout your class. I really look forward to revisiting these experiments in my future classroom.
February 29th, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I loved the boat building because it is fun to design build and test out your own boat.
But I think that the next time we build boats we should work alone because I think that we disagree with each other a little too much.
Your student,
Chris
February 29th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I love the blog! Also I think tinfoil was the most useful because you couldn’t really make a boat without tinfoil. If you could it would probably sink right after you put in one marble or two. That wouldn’t be successful.
Your friend,
Kayla
February 29th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I learned that sponges are not the most useful and tinfoil is the most useful of the objects and I liked making boats. it’s so fun designing your own boat.
your student,
Creighton
February 29th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
When we built boats I learned that if you use straws water gets in and sinks your boat, only if the straws are on the bottom though. I figured out your boat can’t be to heavy. Another thing is sponges absorb water and sink the boat.
From,
Dylan
February 29th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
The boat project was so much fun!
My 1st boat sunk at 3 marbles! I think it sunk because the sponges collected the water and got the boat heavy. I would use the tinfoil next time because it is lightweight and flexible. I can’t wait to build boats again!
Your student,
Taylor
February 29th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I liked the boat activity because it was fun and some people got to work with their friends and it worked good. Also, I learned that the smaller the boat is the less marbles it will hold. The first boat me and Anthony made was small so we made it bigger and it held way more than before. The first one only held 2 marbles and the second one held 21. I can’t wait until the next boat experiment.
From,
Brian G.
March 1st, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Dear Brian,
Great watching you and your classmates working and solving the experiment. Hope to see many more projects this year!! Keep up the good work scientists!!
:LOL:
From,
Karen Gaffney
February 29th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I really had fun with the boats that we did this year. I think that’s the best experiment yet.
Me and Carly really had fun. I like when you did the music in the video. I wasn’t expecting that, but alright. What I was expecting is everyone get in a big group and one group says this was fun! And another group says well its just a little boring. But I liked it.
Mr. Salsich always has great ideas for videos on our class blog. I wonder why almost every time Mr. Salsich does cool videos. Maybe it’s so that people will have fun and learn a little bit from the video on our blog.
Your student in Mr. Salsichs class,
Hanna
February 29th, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I really liked to make the boats because using our imagination was very fun. I had a harder time doing it alone. The sponges really did not work because they would soak up all the water and make the boats sink. And the straws would get wet and the water would go through the holes and then it would make the boats sink more.
From,
Jennifer
February 29th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich,
I liked the boat experiment because it was fun to make boats of your own design and structure. I think I know why heavy aircraft carriers and other large boats are able to float. I think they are able to float because the water under them is very heavy and also because the ship is very buoyant.
Your friend,
Braedon
March 1st, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Dear Mr.Salsich
I learned that big hollow boats can hold more marbles because sponge can soak up the water and straw lets the water go through.
From,
Bryan
March 2nd, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Dear Mr. Salsichs class,
Amazing post! I remember when I did this last year, but my partner and I’d boat wasn’t that good. I know that you are learning about buoyance, so I decided to tell you a fact about apples ( if you didn’t already know). Apples are almost 60% air so that’s why they float. Also, I know that even though some people think that sponges will float, if you leave them to soak up enough water they can start to sink because all the air is escaping and those spaces are filled with water and that causes it to sink. I hope all of you do really well on the CMT’s.
Sincerely,
Your former student,
Amanda
March 4th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Dear Mr. Salsich’s Class,
My name is Diane Boudreau from EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I love science and thought that it was really neat that you all were able to do an experiment to help understand it better. Working together is always a great way to help learn things. Sometimes you just need a little help, or someone to talk it out with, to fully understand the material. Keep up the awesome posts!
Sincerely,
Diane Boudreau
March 4th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Hi my name is Alex Mayfield, I’m from EDM 310 from the University of South Alabama. I liked the experiments you did. Learning about buoyancy and density is so much fun and the best way to do that is with experiments. I would have loved a class like this.
March 4th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
Mr. Salsich’s Class, my name is Zack Boone and I am a student at the university of South Alabama in edm310 and i loved the video and blog post! It’s so cool seeing kids be able to have fun with education and wanting to apply themselves. They had fun learning and that’s how it should be. There should be more classes like this for kids. I will be keeping up and commenting again. Great Post!
March 4th, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Hello Mr Salsich’s Class
That is really cool to be able to make boats out of such a small amount of things. Was it a challenge? So now I know that tin foil is the best thing to make stuff float. No I have never tried an experiment like that. But it would be cool to try.
Yours sincerly
Lisa
Room 24 Taradale Intermedeaite
March 9th, 2012 at 2:43 am
Dear Mr Salsich’s class
I think it is grand that you guys are making liquids float on liquids. I personally did not know it was possible until I looked at your blog. It looked quite spectacular in the finished product.
From Jono
Room 24, Taradale Intermediate
March 14th, 2012 at 7:43 am
Dear Mr. Salsich’s class,
What fun! Not only was it fun to participate in this experiment with you but the video really helped me understand everything you worked on and learned. At the beginning of the experiment, I too was convinced that some sort of straw/sponge/foil contraption would be the most stable but as I watched your designs develop, I noted that the most useful material was the tinfoil! Your conclusions were very clear and your ability to work in pairs was fantastic. I saw a lot of good cooperation that day. Thanks for including me! Also…I had a ton of fun getting my hands wet
See you soon!
From your loyal classroom helper,
Mrs. Taylor’s Mom (Miss Millie)