Help me give my students a way to combine chemistry and biology by investigating various scientific principles behind the construction, engineering, sinking, and discovery of the great ship, Titanic.
In the 1997 film, "Titanic," treasure hunter Brock Lovett asks, "Are you ready to go back to Titanic?" My answer is a resounding "YES!" As a passion project fueled by a deep love of the subject and the curiosity of my students, I have rewritten my eighth-grade curriculum, including chemistry, cellular biology, and human anatomy, to focus on one central phenomenon: the Titanic.
The construction, sinking, and rediscovery of Titanic is a subject that lends itself heavily to science, and it is through this extended investigation that I hope to guide my students through the first semester of their eighth-grade year.
While writing this new curriculum, I have found myself leaning quite heavily toward the evidence of chemical changes in parts of the ship and artifacts recovered from the wreck site. I plan to have my students investigate such phenomena as oxidation and reduction through the formation of rust, the potential weakening of the Titanic's steel due to differences in its chemical composition, and how to prepare artifacts for either conservation or restoration. To accomplish this, I want to expose various artifacts (including an officer's whistle, a ship's timer, a brass bell, leather gloves, compasses, hand-written letters, and other objects) to salt water for an extended time to (hopefully) recreate rust, patinas, and other chemical changes. Students will use data collected from various lab activities utilizing the items to drive their research and fuel their individual and group investigations of the famous "ship of dreams" and determine if, as the Titanic was dubbed, their learning and love of science is "unsinkable!"
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Materials cost
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Total project cost
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