On Wednesday, May 22, Warren’s 8th Grade Pre-Engineering students set sail in the first (annual?) Cardboard Regatta at Apple Canyon Lake pool. This was a culmination of a year’s worth of work by the students as they each had a one-quarter long Pre-Engineering “mini” class with Mrs. Robbe.

The 8th Pre-Engineering mini focused on the engineering design process. Throughout the quarter, students used the stages of engineering, as well as mathematics calculations, to design, build, test, and improve water bottle rockets, thermal protection systems, and containers to safety send a chip through the mail.

Their final project was to design, create a scale model, test the scale model, build, and race a cardboard canoe. They used prior knowledge and researched examples of cardboard canoes to assist them in their design as well.

As they built and finalized their canoe, the students were required to calculate surface area and the volume of the canoe. They used this data along with the mass calculations to determine the maximum weight capacity of the craft. The measurement requirements included converting between units of measure. They also had to calculate the total mass and cost of the tape used.

The teams were required to have two people in their boat and were only allowed cardboard and tape. They were also required to have a theme. The students were scored on their calculations and their work as a team.

The final results are in the video below. As you can see, everyone had a blast at the event.