Fourth grade students are currently studying the early exploration of the Americas by Europe. We took this opportunity to complete a STEM challenge in order to fully grasp how difficult it was to travel by a ship stocked with needed supplies. The students were challenged to create a ship that would float while carrying twenty pennies. In addition, they were only allowed to use the supplies that were issued to them in a brown paper bag. Immediately, two groups realized that the Styrofoam cups were an excellent choice to use as a flotation device. Not only that, all groups realized that the cling wrap was needed in order to "seal" the ships and make them waterproof. This group demonstrated their engineering skills successfully!
