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Science Sunday: making a dam

July 22, 2012 Ticia 4 Comments


As I mentioned earlier this week, we had a lot of rain, and our backyard flooded.  Jeff and I took that as an opportunity to teach the boys some engineering.  We challenged them to create a dam to stop some of the water.
045white waters in the flood
Some of the challenges were the white waters in the stream, and the water flow was rapid enough to take away many of the building materials they could create.

problem solving how to build a dam
They started by weighing down the big bucket with some rocks, then they remembered the huge pile of bricks in our backyard, but transporting them one by one is tedious and boring.

problem solving how to move heavy things
But a wagon……..  That’s easy and you get the amusement of pulling it through the water.
186
Eventually this is what they came up with.  It’s an odd combination of bricks, buckets, watering cans, and what have you, but it raised the water level on the upstream side about 6 inches, and the downstream side was significantly lower.

All in all a good spur of the moment engineering lesson.
Let’s see what others did this week:
Each week I’m spotlighting a few posts that were shared previously.  Many posts get linked up later in the week and they don’t always get as many clicks as they deserve, so I’m trying to spotlight a few every week.

Over at All Things Beautiful Phyllis shared how to make a terrarium.  I can’t wait to see updates on it and what happened to it.
Homeschool Discoveries shared why sodas explode in the freezer, it was a fun read and I know I’ve left a soda or two in too long while trying to instantly freeze it, and SUPER kudos for using Dr Pepper.
 

I loved how Teaching Stars used bubbles to explain nuclear fusion.  BRILLIANT

Photobucket

 

 

 

reading and writing, science earth science

Comments

  1. Mary Prather says

    July 22, 2012 at 11:28 am

    I love it! You use every possible opportunity to learn!!! Nice!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      July 23, 2012 at 2:42 pm

      I certainly try to……. Now do I succeed………

  2. Christy says

    July 22, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    What a great challenge for them!

    Reply
  3. Raising a Happy Child says

    July 29, 2012 at 5:00 am

    I love your practical challenge. I think they did well all things considering. Did you give them any tips?

    Reply

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Ticia Adventures in Mommydom Hi, I'm Ticia! This is the adventures of my family in life and learning. Follow along with us as we share our adventures. We're having a lot of fun and learning as we go.

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