STEM Aluminum Boats

Lesson Plan:

Activity:

STEM Aluminum Boats

Lesson plan developed by Ms. Erika Geelhoed, BA Ed

Age Group:

School-Age

* Lesson plan objective and assessment can be adapted to use this activity with preschoolers.

Objectives:

Children will:

design a boat that can hold several pennies.
develop problem-solving skills.

Washington State K-12 Science Learning Standards

EALR 3

EALR 3: Application
Big Idea: Application (APP)
Core Content: Solving Problems

2-3 APPB Scientific ideas and discoveries can be applied to solving problems.

STEM Aluminum Boats

Materials:

aluminum foil
coins
large plastic bin
water

Procedure:

Lay out the materials in an appropriate area for creating
Invite the children to make a boat.
Challenge them to make it strong enough to hold several pennies.
When they are finished, test the boats in the water.
Allow them to reconstruct their boats to be stronger and test again.
When finished, you can have a conversation about what makes a boat able to withstand more weight.

Assessment:

Observe and record how the children created their design. Did they have any special/unique approaches?

**Do not assess the children on how many coins their boat was able to hold.** The purpose of the lesson is to encourage creative thinking and engineering skills.

Online Early Childhood Education

Click on the course icon for enrollment information.

Science for early childhood education comes primarily in the form of sensory experiences.

Children are exploring the sights, sounds, smells, touch, and taste of things all around them. This includes children making observations, testing hypotheses, analyzing data and using these experiences as they explore new concepts in their world. Allowing children a space to concentrate on these scientific concepts and discoveries is a great outlet for their exploration and cognitive development as well as a fun sensory experience. Science and play really do go hand in hand and should be encouraged as much as possible.