⛵🌊🛥🌊🚢🌊🚣There are already great things coming out of the new I.D.E.A. Center at Saigon South International School. Evan Weinberg—Secondary STEM Coordinator—recently came up with a new Engineering Challenge for his High School Robotics and Engineering Technology Class. The assignment: build a boat with limited time, limited materials, and limited revisions. Students were not only responsible for designing and assembling a boat with cardboard, duct tape, and just a few other items; but also testing their boat’s “seaworthiness” out on the water.

They worked in groups designing, testing, redesigning, and re-testing. As Penny says in my interview, “We call that ‘iteration’!”

One of the greatest things to come out of this project was the inspiration it sparked among other students. For the final test day, several Elementary classes came to the swimming pool to watch the teams, including Ms. Megan’s Early Childhood students. Some of their predictions:

“The box is so heavy it will sink.”

“Sink! Because the box is so big.”

“Float. I went in a boat before and it floated.”

“It will float because I want to see it float.”

Afterwards, the little guys were so inspired by what they saw, they went back to their classroom and created a maritime engineering challenge of their own! Using cardboard, tape, a small gorilla, and a lot of testing and revising, they learned all about buoyancy, physical science, and balanced forces.

This is collaboration, inspiration, learning-by-doing, and Design Thinking all wrapped into one.

Anchors away! ⛵ 🌊 🛥 🌊 🚢 🌊 🚣

*All photography and video © 2018 Property of Saigon South International School. All Rights Reserved.

Check out SSIS’ High School Program here.

Check out SSIS’ Elementary and Early Childhood Program here.