Huckleberry Finn Raft Building Projects
American Literature and FST classes unite to problem solve.
by Tamara Gatrost
March 05, 2008
Recently in the American Literature and FST classrooms, students were asked to create scale models of the raft used to navigate the Mississippi River in the novel Huckleberry Finn. Student groups were asked to create a hypothesis based on their own prior knowledge and the information in the novel as to whether or not the raft would float. After this, the students conducted research and created a blueprint for their raft based on the scale they chose to use to downsize the raft in the novel. Once this was finished, the groups embarked on creating their rafts and float-testing them in the classroom. After realizing whether or not their efforts were successful, each student then independently wrote a report detailing their groups' problem-solving process from hypothesis to conclusions and reflection.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the project and rafts were built in all sizes. For instance, one of them fit in the palm of a hand, and another was too big to fit in the floating pool. The rafts generally floated successfully, and those that didn't created meaningful reflection pieces for the group members in their reports. Overall, it was a great opportunity for cross-curricular collaboration as well as meaningful student learning.
