(upbeat music) (hammer banging) (sandpaper scratching) (tool buzzing)' - This is the seventh grade class from Bristol Consolidated School.

They're here to build a bateau.

So this is a history lesson.

250 years ago, Benedict Arnold took an army through Maine up the Kennebec River to attack the city of Quebec, and they used these boats like we're building today, called bateaux.

The idea came about because we like to work in the school and try to make history interesting for kids, and we were talking with the teachers and seeing how we could bring some of our materials into their classroom, or our expertise, and the idea of studying the Revolution came up and the light bulb went on, because I knew Rob was trying to build some of these boats and place them along the trail, and I thought, "Wow, these kids might be able to do that."

- How many of you guys have any experience woodworking?

- [Jody] I don't even know where to begin to describe Rob Stevens, he's amazing.

He's a boat builder and has been for a long time.

- We're just gonna fly.

- [Jody] He's the natural person to do this because he's been building these bateaux, and he and others actually recreated the expedition themselves a few year ago.

- You can go for it now and take it up the stairs.

- [Student] Let's try the stairs, we got this.

- [Jody] He's great with kids.

So he knows this history inside and out, he's been researching the Arnold Expedition for many, many years, so he's the perfect guy.

- How many understand the word jig?

- [Student] Jig?

Oh, yeah, I do.

- You sure?

'Cause I might quiz you.

(upbeat music) (tool buzzing) It's really magical to get a chance to actually work with wood, and some of what we're doing, we're using old-fashioned hand tools.

I keep telling them they're not gonna remember what I tell them, but they'll remember that there was a way of doing something.

You know, for some kids, doing something like this, that's what they'll excel at.

It gives them confidence, you know, later on in their life they'll know, "Oh, yeah, I can sit there and take a piece of wood and a tool and manufacture something."

- So we're making pegs for the boat, 'cause on the boat it's the oar holders.

What we're gonna do with them, is there's gonna be a little hole and then you're gonna take the peg and you're gonna stick it in it so the oars can't move anywhere.

(bright music) - This makes their education more vibrant, more alive.

There's nothing like actually hands-on learning, and seeing it and working together.

I can imagine they'll be talking about this at their high school reunion, whatever, many, many years from now.

"Remember when we built that boat?"

- I like this better because when you're just in a classroom, you're just sitting there doing your work, sitting at a desk, but when you're here, you're like more hands on, doing work like on the boat here.

- It's super interesting what kinds of boats they used back then.

My dad's a boat builder too, so he talks about boats a lot.

- I think it's pretty cool getting to build a boat, and just trying new things at the school.

Pretty cool.

Coming along pretty good, everyone's putting hard work in doing it.

- I think it's really important to have kids, like, be able to try different things, like, things that they're interested in, and, like, carpentry is like a big job today, so, like, it's a good idea for people to get experience, and it's cool to just try something new, and so it's great.

- This is the highlight of my week, and I have to apologize to the school teachers because I come here and I'm the fun uncle and I get them all wound up, and then I send them back to school and the poor teachers have to deal with what I've created.

It's just a pleasure, you know, sharing this with them.

(bright music) I hope they get out of it the idea that they can still do things with their hands.

It doesn't have to be boat building, it doesn't have to be woodworking, but just to see that you really can manufacture something, 'cause I know how rewarding it is to me to, you know, do something and have it actually work when I'm done (laughs), you know?

So that's what I'm hoping.

(saw scraping) - [Jody] When the bateau is finished, we're gonna launch in the spring in Round Pond harbor, and all the kids should get a chance to row and get that experience, and maybe feel like the soldiers who were on the expedition.

- [Students] Thank you, Mr.

Stevens.

- [Rob] Oh, man, you guys are the best.

Thank you, kids.

(bright music) - [Jody] We are here in Round Pond to launch the bateau that the kids have been working on for so long.

(bright music) - I think the more of the five senses you can add to the instruction, the more it's going to sink in, whatever lesson you're trying to teach.

It hearkens back to an older form of education, an apprenticeship.

I'm hoping that some of these kids will say, "Oh, you know, building a boat is fun.

Maybe that's something I could do later in life."

So it kind of unfolds in a lot of different directions.

So I love it when education kind of becomes more multisensory and multidisciplinary.

That helps me as a teacher, it kind of makes my life easier, because the kids are engaged.

- This whole process has been really informative.

It's mixed real-world classroom elements of history with real-world things that we have built, so I think it'll make a lasting impact on not just me, but everyone in the classroom.

- Okay, you're off and away.

- Keep it balanced.

- [Marshall] I hate to admit it, but they might forget about the Arnold Expedition, like, next week, but they'll remember working with Rob, they'll remember launching the boat, they'll remember going to the boat shop to do this construction, you know, probably for the rest of their lives, and I think that's important to have some positive emotion connected to going to school.

- [Jody] I hope that this sparks an interest in history, not just in the American Revolution, which is what this project was about, but history in general, and people were doing interesting things in the past.

What the kids do today is history tomorrow, so we'll be, you know, talking about this 50 years from now.