Lesson: Salvaged Surfboard

Discuss what happens when trash isn’t disposed of properly.

• Ask students: Have you noticed discarded masks in places they shouldn’t be? How about other trash? What do you think would happen if no one picked up this trash? What if discarded masks were near a river, lake, or ocean? (When it rained, runoff could carry them into those water bodies.) 
• Prepare a bin of water and a face mask. Ask students to predict whether the mask will float or sink. Test students’ predictions. (Results may vary but a surgical mask is likely to float.) Ask: How might floating masks affect wildlife? (Animals might get caught in the elastic bands or mistake masks for food and swallow them.) 
• Could masks be recycled into something that needs to float? Discuss students’ ideas. 

Read the article and reinforce understanding with a low-stakes quiz.

• Play the video “Surfboard Made of Masks,” which shows the surfboard-making process. Then read the article aloud, pausing to discuss what materials were used for what purposes. Discuss how a material’s properties make it useful for some purposes but not others (e.g., the hard resin helps protect the board in the water but doesn’t help steer; the straws helped make a fin that could steer the board but the fins don’t protect the board from the water).
• Students can work in pairs to complete the Quick Quiz. Discuss their answers as a class. 

Generate the engineering design criteria and constraints.

• Make a T-chart with “Criteria” on one side and “Constraints” on the other. Explain that criteria are standards a product needs to meet, and constraints are limits on its materials or design. 
• Ask students what criteria a successful surfboard needs to meet (e.g., must float, can support a person). Ask students what constraints the article’s surfboard had (e.g., made of discarded items). 

Observe and describe material properties before designing two surfboards.

• Share the Build a Board hands-on skills sheet a day before conducting the activity. Have students connect the activity to the criteria and constraints in Step 3. Invite students to bring in appropriate materials from home. 
• Following school guidelines for social distancing, have students work in groups. Set up one container of water for each group to test their materials and surfboards in. Let students compare their designs at the end of the activity. Ask: What do the surfboards that floated and moved well have in common?

Respond to critical thinking questions about the materials and process used to design a salvaged surfboard.

• Have pairs of students complete the Think It Through skills sheet. Discuss their answers as a class. 
• Allow students to design other treasures from trash with the Learning Extension (described below).

⇨ Learning Extension:

• What other creations could be made from discarded materials? Brainstorm ideas and then make a prototype, or model, of your favorite idea. You can either make a detailed drawing or build a small version of your idea.