TRR photo by Tom Kane Narrowsburg student Daniel Weyandt tests the pedals of his team’s water craft. (Click for larger image)

Students test their theories on Little Lake Erie

By TOM KANE

NARROWSBURG — “I hope I don’t sink,” said Sullivan West - Narrowsburg student Daniel Wayandt.

Wayandt, 16, and a group of his classmates in Lionel Billard’s Technology class are all excited about a project that integrates math, science and technology and involves water vessels.

Billard is working in conjunction with science teachers Russell Johansen.

“They’re building a water craft during their technology period based on information they learned from their science, math and technology classes,” Billard said.

Three teams of students are working on the project and will share an end-of-semester mark. Each group has built a watercraft of sorts that should float and be propelled through the water.

“I will judge their work as a team,” Billard said.

The big day for the flotilla is Friday, June 2, at 2:00 p.m.

“I’m not worried,” Wayandt said. “I can swim.”

“This is fun and it gives me a chance to use my creative abilities,” said Brian McCarthy, 16, as he and his two classmates, Mary Kuen, 14, and Michael Wayandt, 16, fixed a part of a chair seat to two boards that will act as pontoons. Two large pieces of Styrofoam were lashed under the boards.

“They give it buoyancy,” Kuen said. “You have to think it up, make it and then test it out.”

The students studied buoyancy in science class with Johansen.

“We plan on going down to the lake before Friday just to see if they float,” Billard said.

“If they sink, it’s back to the drawing board,” said Kuen.

“This project shows students the practicality of learning,” Billard said. “They see that what they study has a real role to play in the real world. That’s when they really learn.”

“Students need to see how predictable science is,” Johansen said. “They study it in the classroom, but when they see it actually work, it’s real.”

The students also will paddle, sail, pedal or use any other method of human propulsion, Billard said.

All the materials are recycled plastic bottles or Styrofoam for buoyancy and wood, metal and plastic for the structures.

“We’re not going to sink,” Kuen said.