Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Clay Boat Float

The students are trying to create shapes that will hold the most marbles. Through the course of the activity, I am hoping they come to the realization that a normal boat shape is not the best shape for floating marbles.



Here is an example of a canoe shaped boat.



Another group created an oval shape to hold the marbles.



Miguel and Yengshi took an early lead with 27 marbles. Can you identify why their boat held more marbles than the first two boats?



Here is Miguel explaining why he chose his shape. Do you think he chose the best shape? Do you think there is another shape that will work better? How would you find the best shape?

1 comment:

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