Sparta — Students at Sparta High School are learning about the importance of trial and error in the scientific process.
Equipped with just an upcycled desktop computer fan, a battery, a circuit, a power switch, some minimal construction materials and the scientific method, students in Paul Groh’s Science Olympiad class were recently tasked with building a motorized boat that could make it from one end of a roughly 10-foot trough to the other.
Splitting into teams of two or three to tackle the project, the students faced off to see whose boat could make the trip in the shortest amount of time, while carrying a weight.
But only a few boats made it across, and those that did failed to do so with much speed. So Groh sent students back to the drawing board, asking them to reevaluate their strategies and maybe even redesign their boats to improve their chances of success.
But that’s OK, Groh said. It’s all part of the process.
“It’s about having them learn some science, do some hands-on problem-solving and learn from what didn’t work. That’s what engineering is,” Groh said. “We’re just problem-solving and playing.”
‘A lot of trial and error’
The high-schoolers gathered in an outdoor space just outside Groh’s room to set their boats in the water. Cheering and jeering, they watched as many of their classmates’ vessels stalled, bumped against the walls of the trough and tipped over.
Some, like the boat designed by senior Kaden Williams and junior Blake Steinbacher, successfully made it across the trough.
Kaden shared some of the secrets of the duo’s success, noting that the placement of the weight was more important than most students probably realized. For instance, if the boat is pulling to one side, the weight needs to be used to offset that.
“If it’s going right they’ll put (the weight) on the right side, but you really need to put it on the left, and it guides it,” Kaden said. “It’s really more of a physics thing, and a lot of kids don’t understand that.”
Balance, he said, was another big factor.
“Having your weight at the bottom makes it sit in the water and makes it so it can go,” Kaden said. “The other ones aren’t working because they haven’t figured that out, and it’s too top heavy.”
Blake said when they started working on their boat, it was a challenge to get it working properly.
“We were going in circles,” he said. “We carved it out and then we put the weight in the bottom. Then we added a little lip at the front for turning, and that balanced us out.”
Juniors Ethan Haugen and Sariah Monroy also managed to get their boat across the full length of the trough, but it didn’t travel quickly enough. So the juniors leaped at the opportunity to redesign their vessel.
“We’re going to go with cardboard,” Ethan said, noting that the foam the class had used the first time around was too heavy.
“Yeah, we’re going to switch our medium,” added Sariah. “It actually will probably make it a lot easier to work with because we don’t have to sand it, we don’t have to cut things out as much.”
They got right to work on planning their new boat. Within minutes they were at a drafting table penciling out designs and asking for Groh’s input.
“We’re thinking about how to make sure it’s straight, and make it cut through the water and not sink too low, because if we make the walls on it too short then water will seep in,” Ethan said.
The pair said the assignment was challenging but enjoyable — and “a lot of trial and error,” Sariah noted.
Groh said some students will start over entirely, while others will make modifications to their existing crafts. But he expects they’ll all do what they can to make their boats faster, since the assignment is graded on a curve, and the fastest time will get the A.
‘It’s about having them learn some science, do some hands-on problem-solving and learn from what didn’t work. That’s what engineering is.’
— Sparta High School teacher Paul Groh
The assignment is one of many the students designed to help students practice for the regional Science Olympiad tournament at Grand Valley State University in the spring of 2026.
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