by Director of Teaching & Learning Lexi Fields '98
At Galloway, students are drawn joyfully into learning and nothing could have epitomized that more than the 8th grade's inaugural cardboard boat race.
In eighth grade grade science teacher Mat Fallon's unit on buoyancy and density, he asked students to use Archimedes principle, design engineering, and leftover cardboard from Steve & Kate's Camp to collaborate and build cardboard boats capable of carrying two students across a body of water. Students had to use out-of-the-box thinking...to stay in the box!
In learning about density, buoyancy, and volume displacement, students designed boat prototypes with clay and tested the strength with pennies. Then with their newly constructed knowledge and with limited supplies, teams of students built boats that they hoped would stay afloat. While each boat fared a different fate, the spirit of risk taking, problem solving, collaboration, joy was palpable.