Independent Site Visits 10th Grade:

 

 

Setting Sail on The Pioneer - A Visit to The South Street Seaport Museum

Grade Level:  10th grade

Learning Standards:  Students will demonstrate an understanding of motions and forces, such as inertia and the net effects of balanced and unbalanced forces, and demonstrate an understanding of transfer of energy, such as mechanical motion.

Time Requirements:  Pre-Visit:  3.5 hours; Visit:  2 hours; Post Visit:  1 week outside   class; 1.5 hours in class

Topics Covered by This Lesson: Background/History of New York Harbor

The types of sailing ships

The parts of sailing ships

The parts of sailing ships as they relate to motion, forces and mechanical motion

Laws of physics as they relate to sail theory

Pre-Visit:

Purpose of Lesson:  To learn an overview of motion and forces, and mechanical motion.

Purpose of Trip:  To reinforce classroom lesson and provide hands-on activities to demonstrate principles discussed in class.

Objectives:  Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to:

            provide two facts about the history of New York Harbor

            name and identify at least four types of sailing ships

            name and identify at least five parts of a sailing ship

            describe how these parts relate to the sailing ships’ motion

            name and identify at least three types of knots

            demonstrate at least two knot ties

            define inertia, balanced forces, unbalanced forces, buoyancy, pulleys, righting

            angle, Bernoulli’s Principle, Archimedes Principle, Coreolis Effect

describe a sailing vessel’s motion in terms of Bernoulli’s principle

Materials Required:  Sailing vessel (Pioneer), 1 notebook and 1 pencil for each student, rope, slides/projector.

Student Learning Prerequisites:  Lessons on laws of physics, knowledge of structure/function relationships.   

Visit:

Students will meet marine educator at the Pioneer gangway, equipped with a notebook and pencil.

The educator will bring class onto the sailing vessel and begin with a welcome introduction which includes a lecture on terminology related to sailing vessels (types and parts of vessels) and laws of physics.  The educator will use slides to illustrate terms discussed.  Then educator will bring class on a tour of the sailing vessel.

Lunch.

Students will learn how to raise sail, practice tying knots, and learn about mechanical advantage and navigation as related to the laws of physics, utilizing hands-on activities lead by the marine educator.

A game of tug-o-war to demonstrate the use of mechanical advantage in a sailing vessel’s operation will conclude the visit.

Post Visit:

Assessment:  Take-home project - In-groups of four, students must create a model which can be used to demonstrate at least one of the laws of physics that has been discussed in this lesson.  Oral - In the same groups, students must present (10-15minutes) their model and demonstrate the law(s) of physics that it is based on.

Extensions/Suggested Homework Assignments: See above

Choose another type of vehicle (i.e. airplane, car) and write a two-page essay comparing and contrasting how forces and motion relate to its motion versus sailing vessels.

Possible questions that may be brought up:

How are the size of a sailing vessels related to its motion?

What happens if a sailing vessel that has more than one sail, has one of its sails fail?

What do sailors do to ensure a sailing vessel does not fail during a storm?

 

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