Two days ago, my table tested our dams from lesson 11 part 1. My group was the first team to start. Our dam and town were successful. The dam blocked the town from flooding.

 

Questions:

 

How did the dam affect the direction and flow of water?

The dam in our stream table affected the flow of water because of our straw under the dam. The straw under the dam directed the water into it, and under the dam to the bottom of the stream channel.

 

Did each dam produce the same results? Why or why not?

 

No. Not each dam produced the same results. From the placement of the dam, to the placement of the houses. They were all different.

 

Did the placement of your dam protect your town from flooding? Why or why not?

I think the placement of our dam protected the town from flooding. I think this happened because the dam was right before the houses.

 

Think about how the rocks and the hills affected the direction and flow of water. In what ways were the results with the dam the same? In what ways were they different?

The dam was the same to every team because it was built by stacking craft sticks on top of one and another. The dam was different because in each dam, the dam was placed in a different spot. Most, but not all, of the teams were successful.

 

If you were to design, build, and test your dam again, what would you do differently?

If I were to build my dam differently, I would keep it the same, but just for extra protection, I would make the dam a little higher.

 

This afternoon, my class designed a way to prevent the water from flooding the town of Gaveo. The town of Gaveo is what we called the town we were working with.

In this lesson, the first step was to use a piece of paper to plan what we thought the best design was, so the town Gaveo will not overflow.

The materials that we used were 20 toothpicks, 15 craft sticks, a jumbo straw, gravel, and sand.

In my design, I chose to make the dam in front of the town. The toothpicks went in front of the houses, and the straw was cut in half and put in the middle of the stream channel.

Then, I was planning to put the gravel around the floodplain. Finally, my table came together and combined our ideas, to make one group idea.

 

Questions:

 

1. Describe how your team came up with your idea.

My table talked about our designs. My table had about 4 ideas before coming to our conclusion. My idea included the dam before the town and the straw before the dam. In Nash’s idea he planned for the straw to be under the dam. To choose the final design, my table reviewed what would happen if we used one’s idea.

            2. Describe your design.

My table used all the materials. Our design looks like a hot wheels track. There is the dam, with a straw under it. My classmate Luke made straw decorations with the straw and the paper the straw was in. It doesn’t look like our original plan, but I think it will work as well.

            3. Predict how your design will work. 

I think the river will flow until it gets to the dam. Once it flows to the dam, the water will go down the straw.

           4. Rate how well everyone worked together.

Out of 5 stars, I would give my team a 4 stars. Everyone got along, except that one of my classmates Helen didn’t participate that much. For strategies, my table did one thing at a time. For example, Luke would put in the gravel, and I would put the sand in. We didn’t have any disagreements.