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Hi,
I am a physics teacher and am planning to try the NSTA Construct a Boat project in my class. Does anyone know of a good computer modeling software to use with this unit?
Thanks,
Carrie Herring
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Carrie,
What materials do you plan on using?
~patty
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Here is a site with some simple activities that enable students to learn about shapes of boats, buoyancy, and displacement as well as buoyant force.
http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/buoyant-boats/
and an activity from It's About Time on boats
http://its-about-time.com/htmls/pbis/dig/pbis_dig_te_ls1_3.pdf
and a project that focuses on fin design
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Aero_p038.shtml
and some interesting ideas from the Science Exploratorium in CA
http://www.exploratorium.edu/gsearch/boat%2Bdesign
~patty
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Carrie,
I don't think that this is what you are looking for but this came up with a Google of boat simulations for students
http://www.boatus.com/foundation/games/
It might have its applications as a game. There are bridge design simulators which my students used to use for building competition bridges, but it was not free ware.
Check out other simulations; some may be useful. Trial and error with students asking questions and modifying their design after studying buoyancy and propulsion may be the way to go. Keep the students tinkering and learning.
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Carrie,
I don't know if you have considered Sketchup as a design / drafting tool. It is free, and useful in designing a variety of objects in 3D. The description from the Google:
'You can use SketchUp to explore design ideas and experiment with 3D. You can draw your home or famous buildings, use it for projects at home or school, or create fun stuff like cars, space ships, barns, or your dream house. You can share your models with others via the 3D Warehouse. And if your model has a location (you built it on a Google Earth image), you can also view it in Google Earth.'
It may have a bit of a learning curve; usually the kids get it faster than we do though. I have seen it used in a STEM middle school, so it might be worth a look.
http://support.google.com/sketchup/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=36201&topic=1734764&ctx=topic
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Jennifer, thank you for sharing this free design program. I had looked for free ware design programs and this seems to have real potential.
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I thought that I would post this collection on boats and boat building for any new and/or interested readers. Thanks everyone for sharing.
Has anyone tried out the Google design site shared by Jennifer?
patty
Buoyancy and Boat Building Collection
(10 items)
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You can check out this website:
http://www.3dboatdesign.com/
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Hi Rhode,
Thanks for sharing this commercial project. It looks very specific and suitable for boats to carry folks across the water. Have you used this design software with classes?
patty
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