Grade eight students from Humboldt Public School, St. Augustine and St. Dominic spent May 26 poolside racing cardboard boats.
The boat races were part of the Skills Canada program, with the Humboldt schools following the program to host their own relay races, says St. Dominic Vice-Principal, Chad Knaus.
The students were broken up into groups of four or five and were given two 4 foot by 8 foot sheets of cardboard, one roll of duct tape, one roll of packing tape, some string and one paperclip and they were to use those items to create a fast and long lasting boat that they could paddle the length of the swimming pool at the Humboldt Aquatic Centre.
Part of the grade eight curriculum teaches the students about water and buoyancy, and water aerodynamics so they had to use what they learned to come up with designs that would be best suited to float, says Knaus.
During their classroom studies the students were required to create sketches of their boat designs which they brought with them.
From there the groups had to build their boats from their sketches and ideas, says Knaus.
“It was cool to see all the different ideas that came out and which ones were failures and which ones were successful,” said Knaus.
“Not everyone was a failure because we’ll learn from those ones what not to do next time so it was interesting for the kids to actually have the chance to put it all together.”
Knaus says giving them the opportunity to use their imaginations in a way that is not always possible in the classroom.
“Usually if you’re just sitting in the classroom and the desk, it’s hard to actually experience where this gives them a real life chance to come up with an idea, make it happen and then actually experiment it.”
Knaus was really pleased with how the day turned out.
“The kids were amazing. They worked really hard, they were cooperative, they did everything they were asked to do and they’re showing it by having a great afternoon. It was engaging and most of all it was just a good time.”
After back-to-back wins for St. Dominic there was a new winner this year as a St. Augustine boat captured the fastest time and took home the top honours.
With all of the students on their way to high school together in the fall, Knaus thought it was a great way to be able to bring all of the students together.
“This gives them a good chance to have a little camaraderie between the three schools and have a good time and a little competition, which isn’t bad either.”
