Boat races end with a splash of science
“On your mark, get set — go!” yell three wide-eyed, smiling fourth and fifth-graders.
Their 12 inch by 3 inch long replica of a Skip Jack sailboat, weighed down with 10-20 mechanical fasteners speeds down a water runway. It is connected to an AquaTrak Data Wheel and pulley system; a computer program also records the boats acceleration rate, velocity and distance.
The boats, manufactured by 20 fourth- and fifth-grade students at Logan’s Hillcrest Elementary, are made of lightweight wood and cardboard. They are then “fiberglassed” with a polyester resin, a reinforcing agent that binds and waterproofs the cardboard.
While most elementary students use their morning recess time to play with friends on the monkey bars or grassy fields, these students use Monday and Wednesday mornings to test their sailboats for velocity, acceleration and distance.
The students are in a two-year-old club called T.I.E.S. (Technology, Innovation, Engineering, Science), which is mentored by Utah State associate professor Gary Stewardson and Hillcrest fourth-grade teacher Heather Eames. Its purpose is not to add more academic work for the students but allow more hands-on learning with the assignments revolving around the teacher’s current curricula.
And it’s only Utah’s second university-advised club of its kind.
“It’s easy to tie in science and math principles through these types of projects,” said Stewardson. “Where most elementary students have not had this type of exposure, it’s important for them to see how things work and how to solve problems.
Previous club projects include bottle rockets, hydraulic robots and levitating cars. It is funded through cooperative funds from Utah State’s college of science and elementary education department. However, Stewardson and the industrial technology and education department are working on receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to replicate similar programs throughout Cache Valley’s schools.
Hillcrest students have already experienced the club’s main goal: science awareness.
Melanie Hicken, a fifth-grader and T.I.E.S. member, already knows she wants to get bachelor’s degrees in archaeology and marine biology.
Fourth-grader Brooke Mathys wants to be a computer technician, and fifth-grader Cole Broadbent has learned how to better apply his math skills.
“It gets the students thinking about what they’ve already learned in the classroom, said Eames, a ’99 Utah State graduate. “It’s very hands on.
The students are placed into two to three-member groups. The groups build their own boats and for the past two weeks have taken turns testing them. Wednesday, June 2, was the last day of testing.
For more information on what the industrial technology and education department plans to do with their proposed NSF grant or T.I.E.S., contact Stewardson at (435) 797-1802, or gstew@cc.usu.edu; and Eames at (435) 755-2360.