Four H. E. Bourgoin Middle School students were champions at this year's Skills Canada Northern Alberta Cardboard Boat Race.
The event, which took place at NAIT in Edmonton on Oct. 25, had students creating a blueprint for a boat made out of cardboard.
The students were provided with a single roll of duct tape, a roll of packing tape, a knife, two sheets of cardboard and an hour-and-a-half to build the boat according to the blue print.
Teams were allowed to test a design beforehand, but on the day of they had to start fresh and create the boat in the allowed time period. Once the boat was built, they tried to row it across a swimming pool.
The contest starts with a speed competition, where one student paddles the boat across the pool.
If they were able to make it across, the remaining three students would get in the boat until it eventually fell apart. The teams also received points for how closely they followed blue prints, speed, creativity, decorations on the float, ability to work as a team, and keeping their work area clean.
The team with the most points out of the 30 schools competing was awarded a gold medal during a ceremony at the end of the day.
“I was pretty sure they were doing well,” said H.E.B. teacher Lisa Shakowski. “But it was an awesome surprise at the end of the day that they had won gold.”
Glendon School was another school from the area that took part in this event. They were also able to get their boat to make it across the pool.
“It was awesome; it was a really good time. The kids had a really good time and they learned lots. They get to put their learning to the real life test. It was either sink or swim,” said Joshua Backer, the Glendon School teacher who accompanied the students.
Although this event is a fun day for the students, teachers were happy to see that they could get a lot more out of the tournament.
“It's really not just about academics, it's not just about competing or being the fastest that you can. It takes a lot of different skills and it combines those skills that are required for critical thinking, working as a team, being able to create a design, and it takes that creativity and academic side and it funnels it all into one. It gives them an opportunity to showcase a number of skills,” explained Shakowski.
Backer added that events such as this are “super fundamental for our students to experience failure in a good way.”
“You usually do your first design and go to the pool and test it out and it sinks, then you go home and re-think and re-analyze and you get to experience that success from learning from your failures.”
