Mr. Palmer and his partners implement “Science Takes a Dive” in which students build remote controlled submarines to explore the underwater world and learn about density, buoyancy, thrust, drag, gravity, and a host of other science concepts. Students develop literacy skills and learn the design and history of submarines by reading and writing about Jules Vern’s Twenty ThousandLeagues Under the Sea and U.S.N. Commander William R. Anderson’s Nautilus 90 North. Using tubs and weights, students explore buoyancy and metric measures and build simple submarines with neutral buoyancy. After visiting the Bangor Submarine Base Underwater Warfare Museum and touring Russian diesel submarine moored in Seattle, students master fractions and ratios to construct remote controlled submarines. Using algebraic concepts, students also predict collisions and plot the intercept of a torpedo.
