Investigation 2: Lifeboats

Introduction• Today, you are going to

investigate lifeboats!• What are lifeboats and what are

they used for?• Lifeboats carry passengers safely

away from distressed ships.

Passengers: How many passengers can your lifeboat hold BEFORE it sinks?

Explore: Test your boats several times to

see how many passengers it takes to sink your lifeboat

Variables of the lifeboat

• Reporters report out how many passengers your boat HELD?

• What is a variable?

• What variables affected the number of passengers your boat could hold?

Capacity• How could we

check the variable of our boat size? ( to find out if in fact all the boats are identical)

• I suggest we measure our boat’s capacity! Watch me demonstrate this!

Four New Boats• We will

investigate the variable of boat size to see how it affects the number of passengers a boat can hold.

• You will construct four new boats, each different sizes!

• All boats should be no shorter than 2 cm and no taller than 4 cm from base to top.

Capacity• After you make the boats, measure their

capacity.

• Name each boat and write the name AND capacity on the side with permanent ink.

Wrapping Up Part 1Vocabulary• Capacity is

Content/ Inquiry• What variables might affect

the number of passengers ( pennies) a paper-cup boat ?

• Variables might affect the number of passengers are: placement, water movement, and boat size

Part 2: Lifeboat Inspection

Lifeboat Inspection• REVIEW: What is the meaning of a controlled

experiment?

• Today, we will conduct a controlled experiment to find out how the variable of capacity affects the number of passengers a lifeboat can hold.

Standard Boat-Loading • We need to decide as a class what our

standard for boat loading will be.• How should we place the pennies in the boat?• How should we handle the basin?• What are your thoughts about the pennies?

Wet or dry?