Dimensions of Learning

Dimensions of Learning Problem Solving Managing Impulsivity Thinking Flexibly The Task

You are a part of a group on the side of a river, and need to desperately get to the other side. The river is infested with piranhas, crocodiles, high mercury levels and radioactive waste. As luck would have it, you happen to have the following pieces of equipment with you:

1 bathtub 2 lengths of wood (3 metres long) 2 lengths of rope 4 buckets 1 bathroom scales 2 measuring cylinders 1 tape measure 1m long 2 rulers 1 styrofoam box

In your group, your challenge is to design a craft to transport the members of your group from one side of the river to the other.

Team 1 Team 2 T Alford G Broadhead J Tap D Creed G Hales M Logan P Ingram A Swaine S Lotzvie L Uhlmann T Neilsen D Robinson T Sordello K Stevenson

Useful Information A significant part of this task has to do with the application of Archimedes’ Principle that states: When an object is immersed in a fluid it experiences an upthrust equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.

If we ignore the technical difference between mass and weight we can say that the bathtub will float so long as the mass of the bathtub (and anything it contains) is less that the mass of the water that the bathtub displaces. That is, for a bathtub that is 1800cm long, 30cm deep and 40cm wide, it will occupy an approximate volume of:

1800cm x 30cm x 40cm = 2160000cm3 2160000cm3 = 216000ml = 216 litres

If the density of water = 1g/ml then the bathtub can support a mass of 216kg.

The mass of the bathtub will be equal to the bathtub + what the bathtub contains. Draw a sketch or outline of your craft below with annotations noting the reasoning behind your design. As you do so be conscious of the way in which you are going about solving the problem, including important steps that you are going through and the way in which you are approaching the problem.