Build Week 11: Cardboard Boat Regatta 2.0
Build Weeks are an important part of life at Long-View, but the parameters of Covid presented many complexities and for over a year we were not able to gather together as a full community or in teams that crossed bands. But last week the teachers came up with a plan to safely pull off a Build Week. As always, the dates and project challenge of the upcoming Build Week were kept secret, and the teachers carefully crafted a “reveal” last Monday so as to provide a level of authenticity to the Build Week challenge and to deeply invest the learners in the work for the week.
On Monday morning, the first day of the yet-to-be-revealed Build Week 11, Campfire started off in a slightly unusual way. After ringing in, Mrs. Zapalac shared an interesting email she received from the leader of a new school in Oregon regarding her interest in our cardboard boat regatta. (This has been an annual event for 5+ years in which we challenge our learners to build a boat that can safely sail one person to the middle of Lake Austin and back, and to build it out of nothing but cardboard and duct tape.) The letter noted that Alex Lopez, the principal of the proposed Oregon school, sees the Long-View cardboard boat challenge as an excellent learning opportunity and wants to bring this event to her community. The letter went on to to say, however, that Ms. Lopez is reticent because of the lack of sustainability, as this is crucial to the values of The New Green School. Ms. Lopez wondered whether there was a way to lessen the footprint of the event.
After reading the letter aloud to the Long-View community, Mrs. Zapalac said, “We were interested in potentially helping her and we started to think maybe some of our learners could figure this conundrum out. We also started thinking that perhaps there are other opportunities out there to take modified versions of our cardboard boat regatta to other schools or organizations.” Mrs. Zapalac continued by explaining that, as a result of the email from Alex Lopez, the Long-View teachers dug around on the internet and found a few more interesting prospects. One was an artist and recent graduate from the UT masters in fine arts program who was developing a floating art exhibit; after contacting her, Ms. Lopez crafted a proposal for our team in which she wanted to see if Long-View could produce boats within certain constraints so as to create a floating cardboard art museum. The teachers also found a Craigslist ad in which a local fisherman was interested in hiring someone to find a way to design affordable, do-it-yourself boats. After contacting the fisherman and explaining the situation, he crafted a proposal for Long-View with constraints specific to his situation, but still within the scope of a “cardboard boat.” And lastly, the Long-View teachers themselves decided they also wanted to write a proposal, as they were interested in finding out whether the annual Long-View boat regatta could be expanded from boats that are propelled with oars to also include sailboats.
Mrs. Zapalac told the learners that each “client” had very different needs so everyone was going to split into teams to spend the week on these problems. The room stirred with excitement as we all realized what this meant: WE HAD A BUILD WEEK ON OUR HANDS! The teachers announced the teams and each team was assigned one of the four “clients.”
The first order of business for each team: reading client information packets to make sure they understood the needs of the client. Packets contained a copy of the client request, as well as a timeline of the deadlines that would be necessary to find success in only four days. After going through this information, the teams quickly gathered to meet with their clients via Zoom so that the client could answer questions about the intent or constraints.
Several teams met with Taylor Robinson, a local artist and aspiring art curator. She explained that she wanted to create a floating museum that would make an artistic statement and her vision was similar to the Waller Creek Art Show, but instead would be focused on small exhibits floating on the lake that would together create an artistic statement. In yet another room, teams met client Robert Clements, who is a local angler looking to find affordable, do-it-yourself boats that could get anyone in Austin out on a lake and fishing. A few other teams completed a Zoom call with Alex Lopez of the New Green School in Oregon. And lastly, the teams working for the Long-View teachers met with Mr. Moore.
Meetings ended with clarity about the first deadline: by end of day initial ideas must be emailed to clients so that the clients can provide feedback by the following day, when construction must commence. However, prior to kickstarting the brainstorming process, teachers gathered the teams together to support them in building a sense of camaraderie and build clear communication channels so as to set them up for productive collaboration during the hard work ahead, especially since the teams straddled all four bands and thus many of the kids had not worked with one another regularly.
The following questions were posed to help scaffold the discussions:
What experience do you have building cardboard boats?
What expertise can you bring to your group? How do you think this changes the group dynamics?
Writing to clients with a professional tone will be a part of this project. What skills can you bring to this? Consider typing skills, editing, spelling, experience communicating in a formal manner.
What excites you about team collaboration/group collaboration?
What do you need from your group members in order to function at your highest collaborative level?
What is one thing that sometimes happens in team situations that you want this team to avoid?
Are your skills in big picture or detail work? Both will be important over this week, and it would be good to know who is a “precise person” (careful when doing things like cutting, building, taping, planning) and who is more of a big picture person (generates ideas, sees how things fit together).
Who has skills at leading a group through a complicated project (hitting deadlines, making decisions when things get messy, dealing with stress, helping others, rectifying problems)?
The room buzzed as the teams of four considered all the questions above. After team meetings concluded, learners set off to begin the work of brainstorming and planning. This work was punctuated with time spent in the “inspiration lab,” which was set up with books, pictures, and materials to be tested and explored. As Mrs. Morgan said, “Great designers seek inspiration.” The inspiration lab opened up the opportunity for learners to build on the ideas of others, mock up new ideas, and explore prototypes. For example, one team that was working for Ms. Lopez, the Oregon principal seeking an eco-friendly solution, tested out a few different ideas to waterproof the cardboard without using duct tape, which Ms. Lopez did not want to utilize. They wrapped one piece of cardboard in an up-cycled piece of plastic, another piece of cardboard was coated in soy wax, and a third was covered in a biodegradable tape. The team tested out whether these materials were effective in resisting the water and supporting floatation.
After a much-deserved lunch break, teams shifted to writing the emails to their clients. The teachers coached into the writing process, reminding the learners about important email etiquette and the necessity of being persuasive and clear in order to have a positive response back from the client. As the day then came to a close and teams sent out their first email to their clients, each group circled up to consider what was working, what needed to change, and what skill sets were utilized today. Reflective discussions, targeted coaching, and mini-lessons focused on strategic skills are the most important elements of a Build Week, as the messy challenges provide many opportunities for important growth in collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.
On Day 2, before the “official” start of school, Long-View was abuzz with teams that had gathered early to read responses from their clients (strategically answered by our teachers). For example, one team heard back from Ms. Lopez from The New Green School in Oregon. She said she was excited but asked for one more round of more detailed information before she gave the ok. The team went to work taking photos of their prototypes and drawing diagrams to be more explicit with Ms. Lopez. Meanwhile, other groups that had received the thumbs up from their clients began building.
Ms. Swanson held an optional workshop to teach more about buoyancy. She used a large plastic container to demonstrate how, when the boat pushes water out of the way, the water pushes back to keep the boat afloat. She also talked about the shapes of boats: “Round is not a good shape for a boat. Triangles are much more useful as they have a lot of strength and can help your boat move through the water.” Most teams worked on prototypes for the remainder of the morning, trying things out and iterating their prototype to try to alter problems that arose.
Meanwhile, the teams working to satisfy the Long-View client proposal were learning more about the complexity of sails and sailboats. They were recognizing that they would need to be extremely precise. And they were recognizing that a lot of math was involved! The teams were also beginning to wrestle with several other complicating factors: the necessity of having the right fabric for sails, the fact that the fabric would have to contain excess to wrap around the sail’s frame, and the fact that this endeavor would require using a sewing machine. Fortunately, Juliet had owned a sewing machine for three years. After setting up one of the school’s machine on her own, she began sewing, and then gave others (including a few teachers) tutorials along the way.
After lunch on a beautiful day filled with more-than-average amount of tree climbing at the park, teams got back to work finalizing plans, checking email responses from clients, and starting to build their boats. The teams working for artist Taylor Robinson had the opportunity to improve their appreciation of their client’s needs by meeting via Zoom with a curator. One thing (among the many) we love about Build Weeks is the opportunity to have our learners interact with experts in various fields. Not only does bringing in experts provide authentic and high-level feedback for our learners, but it also helps give these young people a sightline to potential careers. In this case, the teams working for the art curator got to meet Sydney Dratel from The University of Washington, who gave the teams an overview of her career experience and the area of museology. After her introduction, Sydney then spent time meeting with each team via Zoom to offer feedback on design choices and challenges.
As Day 3 of Build Week 11 began, learners went into full build-mode, working hard to bring their design ideas to fruition. Across the school, in every nook and cranny, teams were huddled on the floor measuring cardboard and using Exacto knives, sewing on machines, and even using an iron (the soy wax for the eco-friendly boats required the use of an iron, which was a new skill for many kids). They were also discussing, referring back to drawn diagrams, debating solutions for problems that arose, dealing with issues that might have been avoided with more thoughtful planning, and working through the always messy process of collaborating at this level, under pressure. Around 1pm, many teams took a break to visit an option virtual workshop with a boat expert. Ken Barr, who has many years experience with boating and sailing, answered a variety of questions about keel design and functionality and how to properly secure a mast. This in-depth consultation provided several teams with new ideas that allowed them to level-up their building process.
The next morning, the final day of Build Week, frenzied-but-purposeful work continued as teams put the finishing touches on their boats. Some teams found their creations turned out better than expected, while a few others were frustrated that lack of planning or with lack of precision with measurements hindered their final product. Others figured out that they weren’t careful enough during the construction phase. A variety of difficulties arose, and teachers constantly coached into the situations, working to focus kids on the most important lessons that could be gleaned from the situations. And at every turn, the process was the focus, as was the quality of the collaboration. Build Weeks are planned with an eye toward creating a situation in which there are many, many opportunities to learn — the level of challenge, for example, is considered and is key to inviting open-ended problem solving while also providing fodder for collaboration difficulties or successes. As lunch approached and building time ran out, teams cleaned up and huddled in groups with teachers to reflect on the lessons of the week.
After lunch, a final community event capped off 4 daysof hard work and learning. Teams carefully carried their boats to Pease Park and “The Great Cardboard Boat Show” began in Shoal Creek. Each team chose a captain to float or sail through a section of the creek, while everyone else cheered from the banks. Some boats sailed just as planned, and others experienced unanticipated failures. Regardless, everyone cheered loudly, as we were filled not only with excitement about meeting the challenge of Build Week 11, but thrilled to feel a sense of normalcy return after the many months of pandemic-induced difficulties, physical separation, and changes to the rhythm of school life.
Three cheers for Build Week and for the hope that next year school life will be normal or at least very close to normal!
We encourage you to look at our Instagram highlight titled “Build Week 11” to see more pictures of this week’s events as well as to see the amazing final products our learners produced.
