But does it float?

The Amber Band has been taking a closer look at how water works. This week we visited the Marine Mammal Center, played around on Rodeo Beach, and took buoyancy experiments to the next level. All of these explorations gave us a chance to learn more about the physics and chemistry of water, in an attempt to better understand our relationship to it.[embed]https://youtu.be/yLx1vDOZ5bQ[/embed]After our visit to the Marine Mammal Center, we hiked down to Rodeo Beach for a picnic. We decided to spend the afternoon playing around on the beach. There were tide pools, watery caves, drift wood, and so much more for us to get up close and explore. We took the opportunity to reflect on this spectacular day with a few minutes of mindfulness. Students noticed all the colors in a handful of sand, the warmth of the sun, the sound of the waves, and the smell of salt in the air.Back at Brightworks, we continued playing around in La Petit Mer (the epic test pool built by Indigo Band) to understand buoyancy and density. What do we need to know about density to be able to move through water? We started by designing and building a vessel that could maintain a neutral state of water (does not sink, does not float) while containing cargo weight of 50 grams or more. Once they figured that out, students began pushing those limits by finding ways to move their vessel forward, backward, up, and down—all without using their hands.[embed]https://gfycat.com/PopularFreeGuppy[/embed][embed]https://youtu.be/ksYFJ0fCFb8[/embed]Next week we'll begin building our very own boat! Ambigo has decided to tackle a seemingly impossible mission by building a boat that will safely carry us to Angel Island. We begin building next week, and hope to have something ready to test in the bay by the following Friday. Before that though, we'll get a chance to learn more about navigating in the water and "reading the water" on a surfing trip in Linda Mar.