Edutopia Video

One of the goals of this project is to share it with others both locally, nationally and internationally. To share our project, we have made the following video for Edutopia, the George Lucas Foundation, which supports project based learning.

" Project learning, also known as project-based learning, is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges, simultaneously developing cross-curriculum skills while working in small collaborative groups.

Because project-based learning is filled with active and engaged learning, it inspires students to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they're studying. Research also indicates that students are more likely to retain the knowledge gained through this approach far more readily than through traditional textbook-centered learning. In addition, students develop confidence and self-direction as they move through both team-based and independent work.

In the process of completing their projects, students also hone their organizational and research skills, develop better communication with their peers and adults, and often work within their community while seeing the positive effect of their work." more from Edutopia. . .

We Are On Our Way

It is the last week we have to work on the project before school begins. It seemed like everyone was working really hard, that was good. There was a lot going on, people were working on the patterns for the planking, the pattern for the tiller, the glueing and planing some frames, filming, tracing and cutting out the rudder, some people did some other work on the side. In my opinion we got a lot done today but that is my opinion. We still have a lot to get done but we are on our way.
Maine's First Ship Student,
Kelsey Brick

Visit from WCSH6 and frames

Today, we had a special visitor. He is Don Carrigan, from WCSH6. He is doing a story about the Shallop Project. The crew arrived around 10:00 and stayed for the rest of the work day. Mr. Carrigan also interviewed some of the kids and volunteers. Today, we glued some more body frames together. The frames were cut into small pieces, so the frame would be curved. We also worked on planing the stern post. It was too wide before we planed it. Some of us worked on carving oars into the right shape. We had a lot of visitors come in to the workshop. They seemed to be interested with the project. To see the video WCSH6 made click here.
Maine's First Ship Student,
Peter Kosakowski

--Matt interviewed Don Carrigan for a new "Careers" project he is working on with Eric Varney for the freshman's first day of school 2010 at Morse High School.

Around the Shed

Today we would like to share a short video filmed by Matt Munster of activities around the shed.

Stern Post

Today, there were multiple projects going on. Some people were working on putting the stern post in place. This is a piece of wood that branches off of the keel. It involved drilling holes for the bolts.

Others were working on making frames that go on the boat. They had to run the wood sections through a thickness plane to make them even. The thickness plane cuts off the top of the wood that is run through it.

The rest of us were working on oars. Some oars are being cut and shaved to length, and some are being cut out of blocks of wood.

Scarfs, Battens and Knees

Today it was a rainy day. Only 8 kids showed up today. We finished making the battens to go around the outside of the boat. We had to plane the scarfs and make them flat. Scarfs are when you cut the wood at a slant so that there is more surface and then you glue two pieces of wood together.
One of the battens broke when we tried to put it against the boat so we had to fix it.

Some of us also worked on oars.We also attached the knee to the keel with bolts. To make the bolts we had to cut a threaded rod to the right length and put bolts on each end.
Maine's First Ship Student,
Nick

Oars, Frames and Flyers

Today there were several continuations on what was happening yesterday. A couple of people were working on oars, including myself. A couple of people were putting flyers in businesses to advertise our shallop, and most of the others were working on the frames, part of the structure of the boat. We also had a special guest come over to talk with us and interview us. Jim Moulton who works with the Maine Laptop Technology Initiative (MLTI) came.

In the oar making, we were either chiseling away on the oar in places where the plane can't reach or planing to make the surface of the oar smoother, since it is rather rough after going through the bandsaw. The two people putting up flyers were going around the area and asking store owners if they could put up the advertisements. They started out with twenty and finished with three, and two of those are going up somewhere, probably on Monday. We found out towards the end of the day that we needed to make 5 to 8 more half-models for the top donors of money.
Maine's First Ship Student
Wesley Blum

Oars, Video and Rabbets

Today, I sanded oars until the middle of them were round. I also, cut out frames made of white oak to put on the boat mold. Matt made a video of students working and made a Garageband song on one of the MLTI laptops to go with his video made on iMovie. (See below) Nick made wall racks to hold our folding chairs. Kelsey and Max worked to notch a rabbet on a stem using chisels. Aaron and Brandon worked on notching rabbets on the keel.
Maine’s First Ship Student
Cody Seekins

Visiting Students from Japan

Today twelve Japanese students from our sister city, came to see what we are doing.
First, they went up to the City Hall to see some of our videos and our website, which we translated into Japanese for them. (Click on the Japanese flag on the website to see it in Japanese)

Then, they came down to the shop around break time, and we had snacks with them. We all had homemade blueberry muffins, and whoopee pies. There was a lot going on as far as what everybody was doing. We were working on the keel, tracing patterns to white oak, and working on the stem.
Maine’s First Ship Student
Brianna

Visitors, Brochures, Oars, Keel and Ribs

There were only nine kids here today including me. There were a few people working on the technology side of things, like a brochure that will be past out around town. Some of them walked around town to see where we could hang posters.

The people that actually worked in the shop worked on oars, the keel, or making patterns for ribs of the boat. I could not believe how many times I had to stop working and be the tour person, there were a lot of people that came in. One of the people that came in interviewed me on what we were doing and he is a videographer from Oklahoma.
Maine’s First Ship Student
Kelsey Brick

Oars, Keels and Promotion

Today, work continued on the keel, oars and floor timbers of the shallop. Much sanding and fitting was done today, and oars started to take more shape. The keel pieces are near completion. Another project was started today. A few students thought of ways to make the program known throughout the community. Main Street Bath provided us with maps of the city. Several students are devising ways to make the program easily findable in Bath. We are creating flyers, posters and billboards to help people find the building where the project is taking place.
Maine's First Ship Student
Peter Kosakowski

Setting of the shop, Keel and Oars

Today, we worked on various jobs around the shop. Some kids worked on finishing oars, others worked on the boat mold and the keel. The oars are coming along nicely and hopefully they will push us forward when they are finished. The keel is almost fully cut out and now needs to be shaped. I, for one, guided tourist and visitors around the shop and previewed our first DVD. Some of the video and photo crew, including myself, took pictures and video of the shop and important places around Bath, like BIW and the train station. Tomorrow, we hope to finish some small tasks around the shop.

Matt Munster
8/4/10

Keel and Knee

Today we placed the keel into the jig, then created and fitted a stern post. Then we braced that with a knee. The floor timbers 1 - 11 are cut down to size and are ready to be assembled to the jig. All of the students are taking part and finding projects that need to be done without the guidance of an adult. The project is finally coming together and the summer has gone by so fast.

Maine's First Ship Student
Aaron Doughty