STEAMing Ahead at RCS!

At Rippowam Cisqua School, the year-long 8th grade physics project is an important focus of the 8th grade curriculum, and it serves as a wonderful example of STEAM—the cutting-edge integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math—in the classroom. This year, Mr. Charlie Duveen’s 8th grade physics students are working in teams to design a nuclear powered submarine. On Tuesday, November 19th, Mr. Duveen, along with several RCS teachers and parents, took the students on a field trip to visit the EMPIRE STATE VI, a cargo ship with a real steam propulsion plant. Visiting this ship enabled the students to become familiar with equipment used to shift from one form of energy to another. These energy systems are the main focus of the RCS physics course for the year, and the examples on this ship will help the students as they move forward with their submarine design work. Below is an article from Charlie Duveen with some highlights from this fantastic trip--and thanks to RCS parent Rhonda Spevak for the great photos! 

Getting underway
On Tuesday we loaded up on the bus and pulled out of the Upper Campus driveway at 8:30am on the dot - our scheduled departure time. Everyone had their bag lunch and we headed to the SUNY Maritime College to board the steam cargo training ship, EMPIRE STATE VI, arriving at 9:30am.

Going aboard
We walked the gangplank to the quarterdeck, where we met Capt. Rick Smith, Commanding Officer of the vessel and Commandant of Cadets at the College. Our tour of the vessel took us from the depths of the engine room to the heights of the bridge; from the anchor chains on the fo'c'sle to the stern lines on the fantail. The cadets who led four groups on the tours are taking naval architecture, marine engineering, electrical engineering, and other maritime courses. They took time out of their day to show us the details of the major ship systems. Prior to this trip, we spent a good two weeks drawing the schematic diagram of the ship's steam plant. Getting aboard this vessel to experience the reality of size and space helped to crystallize the technical material we covered.

Next day's debrief
In our debriefing on Wednesday, we listed what stood out on the various tours. Here is a short list of items that our young engineers picked up: Huge galley spaces; color coded valves; firefighting equipment and lifeboats; really steep ladders to the engine room; the size of the main engines and the main condenser; the thrust block and shaft alley; bridge navigation and remotely-operated, water-tight doors; three level bunks in the berthing compartments; anchor chain links almost the size of your waist; the engine order telegraph - just to name a few.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this experience was worth a billion.

What's next?
Designing a nuclear powered research submarine is a daunting task. Now that they have seen the equipment that powers a ship, our engineers can feel more confident in their planning. In the next few weeks, we will tie up some loose ends (Archimedes' principle and Newton's law of gravitation) and then kick off the engineering project before we break for the December holiday.