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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Floating Fishes: How do Fishes Control Buoyancy?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Playing with balloons, water, oil, and bottles help put this lesson over the top! Participants use air-filled balloons in water tanks to experience gas compression. They also use oil-filled bottles to experiment with buoyancy. Included...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Buoyancy: Integrating Science and Literature

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Integrate science and literature by using the scientific method to test the veracity of the floating peach described in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Clips from a Bill Nye: The Science Guy episode about buoyancy frontload...
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Lesson Plan
Florida International University

Simulating Microgravity with Buoyancy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
How do astronauts know how to live and work in a weightless environment? It doesn't come naturally! Junior physicists conduct experiments to examine the link between buoyancy and microgravity. Each activity illustrates a different aspect...
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Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Buoyancy

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Swimmers know to float by turning their bodies horizontally rather than vertically, but why does that make a difference? In an interesting lesson, scholars explore buoyancy and the properties of air and water. They test cups to see which...
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Lesson Plan
National Sailing Hall of Fame

How a Sailboat Works: Hull Speed and Buoyancy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
How can you determine the maximum speed of a sailboat? A sailing presentation included with a straightforward lesson plan prompts learners to calculate the maximum speed of a sailboat with a displacement hull. The presentation continues...
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Lesson Plan
American Physiological Society

How Does the Density of a Liquid Affect the Buoyancy of an Object?

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Here's a lesson plan that will really float your boat! Introduce physical science scholars to the relationship between buoyancy and density through an assortment of individual and collaborative exercises. Lab groups work together to...
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Lesson Plan
Florida International University

Designing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV): Concepts in Lift, Drag, Thrust, Energy, Power, Mass, and Buoyancy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Engineer an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to study concepts of physics. Using household materials, collaborative groups design and build an AUV and then test Newton's Laws of Motion as they apply them in underwater environments...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Buoyancy

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students use materials found at a resource table to design simple devices that will house instruments to take water samples from a tub of water. They design 3 instruments, each varying in density so that one will float, one will hover...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bubble and Boyle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Even middle schoolers still enjoy experimenting with bubbles! They execute a series of experiments enabling them to distinguish between convex and concave surfaces, explore the properties of buoyancy, surface tension, and density,...
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Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Buoyancy Bulls-Eye

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Why does a seastar sink, but a jellyfish float? Through a fun investigation, learners examine the concept of buoyancy using simple household items. The challenge: create neutral buoyancy for an action figure in water. With ample teacher...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sink or Float: Exploring the Laws of Buoyancy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners explore the relationship between density and buoyancy. After watching a video explaining buoyancy, students discuss displacement and floating. Learners have a raft building competition. Afterward, they conduct experiments to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Grand Designs And Great Failures

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students extend their understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design and testing of ships. students discover that most ships are constructed very similarly-whether they are schooners or destroyers.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ships 3: Grand Designs And Great Failures

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students engage in this, the third in a three-part series on ships. The overall lesson series is designed to allow students to extend their understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design and testing...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bubble and Boyle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle-schoolers still enjoy playing with bubbles! In this series of eight laboratory activities, science learners explore convex and concave surfaces, angles, gas laws, buoyancy, density and more! 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Stone Boat Mystery

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students design and execute a lab through which they study the distinctions between density, buoyancy, and volume.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Will It Sink Or Float?

For Teachers 1st
Learners develop their understanding of buoyancy and density related to sinking and floating. They investigate which objects sink and float through experimentation. They determine that different substances sink or float depending on...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sink or Float?

For Teachers K - 2nd
Have your class explore density and buoyancy using this resource. Learners read the book Who Sank the Boat, and use several items, such as rubber balls, bottle caps, wood, and other household items to conduct an experiment. Using a tub...
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Lesson Plan
Center for Precollegiate Education and Training

Buoyancy Boats

For Teachers 9th - 12th
What did the sea say to the boat? Nothing, it just waved. An inquiry-based lesson starts with a simple concept on the Archimedes Principle and challenges pupils to make something out of clay that floats. Then, they design an object out...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oceans of Fun

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Here is a great hands-on activity that should lead to a greater understanding of salt water, why the ocean is salty, and how ocean waves are formed. This terrific, old-school lesson has clearly described activities, and all of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Blowing Ballast

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Oceanographers participate in a memorable hands on experience about buoyancy. They build a model of a submersible using a plastic bottle and a balloon. Afterward, they answer assessment questions. An answer key and some terrific...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sink or Float

For Teachers K - 2nd
Using a variety of objects, learners conduct buoyancy experiments. They make predictions on which object will sink or float and test their predictions. They use a graphic organizer to record their findings.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Construct a Buoyant Scuba Diver

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Groups of young oceanographers get to use action figures to experiment with the property of buoyancy! This memorable lesson plan provides detailed background information, a link to the laboratory worksheet, and thorough instruction...
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Lesson Plan
DiscoverE

Foil Boats

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
How many pennies can an aluminum foil boat hold? That is the challenge in a collaborative activity designed to explore the concept of buoyancy. Learners use aluminum foil to build makeshift boats and test the weight they hold before...
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Lesson Plan
NOAA

Come on Down!

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
What do we do when a dive is too dangerous for humans to accomplish? Send in the robots! Middle school scientists get acquainted with several different models of submersible robots in the second lesson of six from NOAA. Lab groups then...

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