THUNDER BAY – If at first you don’t succeed, build a better cardboard boat the next time.
That’s just what Westmount Public School Grade 8 students Cameron Henny and Erica Geddes did on Friday, a year after taking part in their first cardboard boat competition.
Drawing on last year’s vessel, the duo were part of the same team that entered this year’s Lakehead Public School Board competition, using the Internet and past experience to construct a craft that traversed the length of the Churchill Volunteer Pool in a rapid 29 seconds.
“This week at school we came up with plans, so we took some of the strengths from our original plan, that we did last year, and we changed some of the weaknesses and came up with a better design,” said 13-year-old Cameron.
One key factor was buoyancy, Erica chimed in.
“We added more air on the sides, so that helped with the weight challenge and it did a lot better this year than it did last year,” she said.
“There’s more space between the two (sheets of) cardboard, because there is an outer boat and an inner boat.”
The competition, a long-standing challenge for Grade 7 and 8 students in Thunder Bay and around the region, was created to help introduce students to skilled trades, as well as how to problem solve. And of course, as in any construction project, there’s plenty of math and science involved.
“We learned how to work as a team and co-operate, and coming up with a good plan and following a plan,” Cameron said.
“It also helps with measurement and constructing stuff,” Erica added.
“It’s different, because you make a whole plan and then you have to make it to scale, like when it changes from metres to centimetres.”
And it’s a good way to learn some valuable life lessons.
“It either works or it doesn’t work,” Cameron said. “On paper it doesn’t rip up.”
Casey Charles, who teaches both grades at Westmount, said it’s a great learning experience that opens students’ eyes to future possibilities.
“They come out here and get the opportunity to build these boats and actually float them in the pool. It’s an opportunity for them to use their hands and get a little bit of experiential learning,” Charles said.
Winners, judged on speed, design and how many students can fit into each craft before it sinks, will get to repeat their success later this month at the regional event, scheduled for the pool at Lakehead University.
