This week, Val Brownsmith’s 7th grade computer science class worked with the STEAMWork Design Studio for the annual 3D-printed boat project! Students worked together in small groups to create a boat that would (hopefully!) float in water—an engineering experiment with a focus on iterative thinking from ideating needs and constraints, researching the problem, imagining solutions, planning, creating and testing a prototype, and, ultimately, revising as needed. This, known as the engineering design process, teaches students that bridging the gap between an initial idea and a final product requires critical thinking and constant iteration, per Brownsmith.

The students were tasked with applying the engineering design process to create a boat that could float. They conceptualized their boat designs (which included a teacup!), 3D printed them, and then tested the prototypes in a fountain on campus to observe their buoyancy. A month from now, the seventh-grade class will 3D-print new boat designs to test their improved-upon prototypes so stay tuned!