Design Challenge: Float Your Boat

Prompts and questions to ask the students

• Have you ever been on a boat? Have you ever floated on water?
• How can a boat float when it is so heavy, but a golf ball, which is lighter than the boat, sinks?
• How do things float and sink?
• When you are in the pool, when do you float and when do you sink to the bottom?
• Have you heard of the Archimedes principle?
• Have you ever made a paper boat and made it float?
• What are some techniques you used to make it stay afloat?

Video instructions for design challenge

Things to think about while building the boat:

1. What part of your design will prevent water from pouring over the edge, even when the boat is weighed down?
2. How can you make your boat stable? You don’t want your boat to tip over if too much weight is placed on one side.
3. What can you do to make your boat sturdy enough so that it doesn’t deform or collapse in on itself when the weight is placed inside?

• Use the Design Challenge Handout to guide your design process.

Video instructions for design challenge

Things to think about while building the boat:

1. What part of your design will prevent water from pouring over the edge, even when the boat is weighed down?
2. How can you make your boat stable? You don’t want your boat to tip over if too much weight is placed on one side.
3. What can you do to make your boat sturdy enough so that it doesn’t deform or collapse in on itself when the weight is placed inside?

• Use the Design Challenge Handout to guide your design process.

Fall 2021 STEM Family Night – Float Your Boat Physics Design Challenge (in-person)