Floating flagpole design challenge (Grade 2)
Grade: Two
Topic: Understanding matter and energy, properties of liquids and solids
Design challenge:
Students design, build and test a structure that involves interactions between solids (plastic) and liquids (water). Students will discover that a flagpole mounted on a plastic bottle will roll over on its side when placed in water. Faced with this problem, students will create a solution that will allow the flagpole to remain upright in the water. With the materials provided, students should arrive at (or be supported to find) a solution that will, either use sand as ballast in a single bottle, or a pontoon system using two bottles to solve the problem.
OCTE 2012 – Elementary Conference Workshops
Tools:
- CSA approved safety glasses/goggles, one pair per person (parent volunteers included),
- scissors, minimum one pair for every 2 projects (students may supply their own),
- a tub, pail or basin to use as a water station for testing the floating flagpoles,
- two or three funnels per class (opening should fit a water bottle top),
- small scoops or measuring cups for transferring materials into the funnel.
Materials:
- 6" (15 cm) of tape per project (e.g., masking tape, duct tape, electric tape, etc.),
- one piece of modeling clay (a ball that is about the diameter of your thumbnail) per project,
- one straw per project (for the flagpole),
- construction paper one small piece per project (to make a flag for the flagpole),
- two elastic bands per project (they should be long enough to fit around and hold two plastic bottles together),
- clean sand, about half a pail for one class,
- send home a note in advance of this activity asking caregivers to collect and send in items from the list below;
- 1 or two per project, small plastic bottles (rinsed, dried, and with caps).