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Science Sunday: Mississippi Steam Boat

March 31, 2012 Ticia 4 Comments


I really wanted for Mississippi to look at Steam boats and how they work. I found a great lesson for high school, but it was way too complicated for my group of guys.

I found a few great books, and then after a quick youtube search, found the perfect video about how a steam engine works (as described by a 9 (?) year old boy), which sadly is not embedding correctly

Afterwards the kids drew their interpretation of how a steam engine works.
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This is Batman’s interpretation of how it works.  I thought the drawings were pretty accurate.

Then I made and they demonstrated (I didn’t want to cut out the pieces necessary for 8 kids to make it) how it would work as a steam engine.  High Hill Homeschool has some great instructions on making this.
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We first tried it with my steam kettle, but it didn’t produce a focused enough steam source to turn it.  So, we poured water on it, and used that to demonstrate how the steam engine works.
All in all a fun lesson on steam boats.

Let’s see what others did this week:

Almost Unschoolers made and explored the science behind Resurrection Rolls.


All Things Beautiful made their own batteries.

Almost Unschoolers attempted to recreate a battery from a book they read.  It apparently was the week of batteries.

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom created a ball and socket joint and a great lapbook.
No Doubt Learning had a super cute amazing shrinking leprechaun hat.  I’m thinking this could also be for Dr Seuss unit or for our brownie, who needs a hat.

Photobucket

 

 

 

science Mississippi, Science Sunday

Comments

  1. MaryAnne says

    March 31, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    I love Batman's steam engine drawing!

    Reply
  2. Phyllis says

    March 31, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    We used a pinwheel instead and it was small enough that the steam could push it. You might try that.

    Reply
  3. An Almost Unschooling Mom says

    March 31, 2012 at 11:48 pm

    We made a little steam powered boat off of the Science Toy Maker site once, it was a very cool project – but really on a high school level, too.

    Reply
  4. Raising a Happy Child says

    April 1, 2012 at 9:30 pm

    Steam engine is a fascinating thing. We went on a steam powered train a couple of times, but Anna couldn't care less about its working – my husband was a lot more interested 🙂

    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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