Cardboard boat races in Strathmore

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

Junior high and high school students are getting the opportunity to participate in local cardboard boat races – modelled after similar races hosted annually by Skills Canada Alberta.
Wheatland Crossing School will be hosting the event at the Strathmore Aquatic Centre on May 6. Approximately 14 teams from schools in Golden Hills School Division will have the opportunity to enter the race.
“This event causes students to apply a lot of the knowledge they have gained over their years of school, whether it comes from math, science, art or shop,” said Mark McKeen, host teacher from Wheatland Crossing School. He added the event fosters critical and creative thinking by posing a simple challenge that can be approached in a variety of ways through communication and collaboration, along with other competencies, that teachers try to nurture in their classrooms.
Participating teams will have 90 minutes to build their boats out of the supplied building materials including, but not limited to, one roll of packing tape, limited cardboard, one small roll of duct tape, one cutting tool, two pencils and one surprise item.
Teams will be assessed by three judges on their boat’s design, construction, safety, speed across the 25-metre pool and weight capacity.
Audience members will witness students testing their own hypothesis and literally sinking or swimming. There will be some laughs as teams try their luck getting across the pool – some of the best and most entertaining runs are when the boat doesn’t quite make it.
Rules and regulations of the event apply and students must follow them during the construction period, speed event and weight events to receive judging marks.
McKeen, who has taken teams to the Skills Canada Alberta competitions for 11 years, said part of the fun is that some things won’t always go as planned and that students generally show their resilience in these instances and can meet the challenges with some frustration, a little ingenuity and a smile.
Some of the benefits students gain during the competition include learning to work as a group with individual ideas that need to be molded together, some students are building something with their own hands for the first time, and some students just want to do something fun and cool with their friends and learn how to overcome a challenge together.
“Students can gain a tremendous amount from a competition like this. One of the greatest things about this is that it offers something a little different for every kid,” said McKeen.
Ahead of the event it is recommended teams meet and research possible designs for their boats. They are also recommended to build and test a prototype of their boat in advance to race day. There is no limit to the amount of designs and prototypes teams come up with before settling on their final design to be handed in prior to the competition.
Students will learn to apply several principles to their cardboard boats, such as design, research and presentation, structure, strength and rigidity, water permeability, construction and fabrication, buoyancy and displacement, teamwork and communication, and application of fine motor skills.
“The real beauty of this event is seeing and hearing kids think individually and collectively,” said McKeen. “If you pay attention while they are building, which is something we don’t always do well in education, you will discover that they are embodying many, if not most, of the things we are trying to teach. It is an authentic experience as they collaborate, occasionally disagree, design, create, problem solve, fail and continue to work towards a goal to the best of their abilities right until the final moments of building.”
Winners of the competition will float away with bragging rights and a medal.
McKeen hopes to make this an annual competition that will grow in size over the years to include more schools from within the division as well as open the event up to some smaller schools from the Grasslands School Division. He also hopes to include some sponsorship opportunities and other takeaways such as participant clothing.
“Ideally this will become something where we can have some friendly competition develop,” said McKeen. “A lot of students in this region know one another and bragging rights are always a good thing to compete for.”