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Why Teach About Boats?

by
Sarah Brzezinski

National Fishing and Boating Week is coming up! Taking place June 1 - 9, 2013, this national celebration of fishing and boating is the perfect reason to get out on the water and experience the joys of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. It is also a great opportunity to teach about boats in your classroom.

Why Should YOU Teach About Boats?

Boats have played a huge role in shaping the history and culture of the Chesapeake watershed. From the dugout canoes used by native peoples for transportation and fishing to the Caribbean cruise ships that now come to port in Baltimore Harbor, boats are a great topic to use to teach about the history of the Chesapeake region and the environmental changes that have occurred over time.

Boats are important for economic and trade purposes, and they provide an excellent range of recreational opportunities! These recreational field experiences are a great way to immerse students in nature and inspire their interest in the world around them. You can also make Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) connections by having your students build model boats and learn about buoyancy through hands-on laboratory experiments.

How Can YOU Teach About Boats?

Whether you take you students on a skipjack in the Chesapeake Bay itself or on a kayak tour of a local tributary, boats are an excellent way to get your students outside and engaged in environmental education! Bay Backpack’s Field Studies page provides some examples of boat, canoe, and kayak trip providers.

If you can’t get your students out to a water body, try using some of these resources in the classroom:

  • Chesapeake Bay Workboats – This Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network website provides an online, interactive overview of Chesapeake Bay workboats. In addition to providing facts about the history and use of various types of workboats, it provides information on workboat building, watermen, the oyster boom and on the overharvesting, pollution, and diseases that have challenged the survival of the Chesapeake’s historic fisheries.
  • Build a Boat That Floats – Can your students build a boat that floats? Provide them with the materials identified in this Scholastic lesson plan and see what happens! Your students will strengthen science, math, creative-thinking, and problem solving skills as they explore boat making.
  • Plot Your Course - The goal of this NOAA lesson plan is to have students learn what information is provided on nautical charts. Students will determine distance and direction between selected features on a nautical chart, identify obstacles to navigation, and identify the characteristics of common aid to navigation described on a nautical chart
  • Explore the Blue – This interactive, Discovery Education website that brings on-the-water experiences to life with cross-curricular lesson plans, printable outdoor activities for the family, and the popular boating and fishing game ‘Thrill of the Catch.’
  • Bay Backpack Teacher Resources – This inventory provides more boat, kayak, and canoe -related lesson plans and activities, curriculum guides, posters and maps, and other teacher resource.