Worksheet Grade 6 Engineering & Design

Otterkill Creek Trash Boom Capture Design Worksheet

A grade 6 engineering worksheet where students design a floating trash boom for a creek, using percent capture, a unit rate, and a ratio table to meet a litter goal.

Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Engineering & Design
Material: Worksheet
Time: 30 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

6.RP.A.3 Common Core Math

Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations, including finding a percent of a quantity and converting measurement units.

How this material aligns: Items 1, 4, and 8 use percent of a quantity and a ratio table to find how much litter a boom captures, and item 7 uses a unit rate, the ratio reasoning this standard targets.

All materials for 6.RP.A.3 →

MS-ETS1-2 NGSS

Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

How this material aligns: Items 9 and 10 have students compare the 80 percent and 90 percent boom designs against the town's litter goal and name the cost trade-off, the systematic evaluation of competing solutions this standard requires.

All materials for MS-ETS1-2 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will calculate litter captured by a boom using percent and a ratio table.
Students will decide which boom design meets a stated litter goal and name the trade-off.

Vocabulary

Watershed: A watershed is all the land where rain that falls will drain to the same stream, river, or lake. Everyone lives in a watershed, no matter how far from the water they live.

Also: trash boom, capture rate, trade-off

Teacher overview

The town of Brasswick, a fictional town, is designing a floating trash boom for Otterkill Creek. A trash boom is a long float that stretches across a stream and catches litter on the surface. The creek flows into Brasswick Lake, so litter caught upstream never reaches the lake or the land downstream. This worksheet has students size the boom, find how much litter it captures, and pick a design that meets the town's goal.

Otterkill Creek Trash Boom Capture Design Worksheet — Grade 6 Engineering & Design

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Use this scenario for every item. Brasswick is a fictional town, and Otterkill Creek flows into Brasswick Lake. In one week, about 500 pieces of floating trash reach the boom site.

The boom captures 80 percent of the 500 pieces. How many pieces does it catch in a week?
How many pieces slip past the boom that week?
The creek flows into Brasswick Lake. In one sentence, explain why catching trash upstream helps the whole watershed.
A longer boom could capture 90 percent. How many of the 500 pieces would that boom catch?
How many more pieces does the 90 percent boom catch than the 80 percent boom?
The boom costs $40 for each meter of length. The creek is 25 meters wide. What is the cost to span the creek?
The cleanup crew removes trash at 50 pieces per hour. How long does it take to remove 400 pieces?
Complete the table of pieces captured from the 500 that reach the boom.

Capture rate Pieces captured

50%

70%

80%

95%
Brasswick wants no more than 75 pieces to slip past each week. The 80 percent boom lets 100 pieces slip past, and the 90 percent boom lets 50 slip past. Which of these designs meets the goal?
Explain your reasoning: which boom should Brasswick choose to meet its goal, and what trade-off comes with that choice?

Capture rate	Pieces captured
50%
70%
80%
95%

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: 400 pieces. 80 percent of 500 is 500 x 0.80 = 400 pieces caught.
Answer: 100 pieces. 500 - 400 = 100 pieces slip past.
Answer: It keeps litter out of the lake. Catching trash upstream stops it from flowing down through the watershed into Brasswick Lake and the land below.
Answer: 450 pieces. 90 percent of 500 is 500 x 0.90 = 450 pieces caught.
Answer: 50 pieces. 450 - 400 = 50 more pieces caught by the 90 percent boom.
Answer: $1,000. 25 meters x $40 per meter = $1,000 to span the creek.
Answer: 8 hours. 400 pieces / 50 pieces per hour = 8 hours.
Answer: 250, 350, 400, 475 pieces. Multiply 500 by each rate: 0.50 gives 250; 0.70 gives 350; 0.80 gives 400; 0.95 gives 475.
Answer: The 90 percent boom. It lets 50 pieces slip past, which is under 75, while the 80 percent boom lets 100 slip past, which is over 75.
Answer: Choose the 90 percent boom. It meets the 75-piece goal, but the trade-off is that a longer, higher-capture boom costs more and takes more time to clean.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a worked percent example first: 60 percent of 500 is 500 times 0.60, or 300. Give the ratio table with the first row filled so students see the pattern. Allow a calculator for every item.

Extension

Ask students to find the capture rate the boom would need so that exactly 75 pieces slip past, then show the calculation and explain how they could test that rate before building the full boom.

ELL supports

Provide a simple sketch of a creek with a boom across it and arrows showing trash caught and trash slipping past. Pair "capture," "slip past," and "trade-off" with the picture. Allow item 3 to be answered with a labeled drawing plus a short phrase.