Through a canal: adventures in vessel ops

Jessie and Mohammed working on 'Student 1'

An activity possesses true success when connections across subjects trigger a more in depth understanding.

An example of this occurred on Tuesday, when our vessel operations class was tasked with the activity of traveling through the lock system of a canal, using our bridge simulator.

This past week, our US History teacher, Alex Jones, has been teaching us about the Erie Canal.  We've discussed why the Erie Canal was constructed, how innovative the technology was for the time period, and how the system of the canal worked.

During Vessel Ops, my partner Mohammed and I sat at one of the desk simulators. Our boat was called the Indy 7, named after one of the school's real boats, and we were supposed to be the first ones through the lock.

As we approached lock A1, I made a radio call to Jonathan, my fellow classmate who was acting as lock master.  Jonathan opened the gate and Mohammed turned the wheel to drive us in.  Jonathan called us to let us know that the gate behind us would be closing. It was really cool to watch the water as it raised us towards the higher elevation of the land off our bow.

When the gates opened, we drove onward, with a better understanding of the trade done in Upstate New York in the 1800s.