Curated OER
What Boat Designs Float the Best?
Fifth graders investigate buoyancy by conducting a science experiment. In this water properties lesson, 5th graders predict which of their different paper boat designs will float for the longest period. Students conduct the experiment...
Curated OER
What Floats Your Boat?
Students explore the principles of buoyancy and Archimedes' Principle and design their own flotation device. They compare the dimensions of a model to the real object to determine scale and analyze the models to suggest improvements.
Teach Engineering
Floaters and Sinkers
Whatever floats your boat. Young engineers learn about density by measuring the masses and volumes of boxes filled with different materials. Using their knowledge of densities, they hypothesize whether objects with given densities will...
Curated OER
Floating on Salt Water
Mixing substances together causes their properties to change. This resource illustrates that concept for fifth graders by having them consider four questions that have to do with buoyancy and boiling point. Learners begin to understand...
PBS
Paddle Power
Potentially get all the way across the water. The fourth of five design challenges asks pupils to develop a plan for a paddle-powered boat that will store its energy. Given a limited number of supplies, the class members design, build,...
Bonneville
TinkerCAD: Introduction to 3D Printing
Steer young minds to build better boats. Future engineers first spend a few days exploring the TinkerCAD software and completing some embedded lessons. They then design sea crafts with buoyancy in mind and print them using a 3-D printer.
Curated OER
Concrete Canoes
Young scholars explore and analyze the relationship of buoyancy and displacement needed to make an object float. They examine various boat designs, then design and build clay and aluminum boats that hold a cargo of marbles.
Curated OER
Ships to a New World
Students experiment with buoyancy as a force. In this buoyancy lesson, students access an assigned website to examine the sailing vessels that came to the New World. They work as teams to build boats out of aluminum foil to see which...
Curated OER
I've Got That Sinking Feeling
Students design a simple boat and predict how much weight it can carry. They should also discover why objects float or sink and how this can be determined experimentally. A great lesson on buoyancy!
Curated OER
Float Your Boat
Students design an experiment to find density using Archimedes' Principle. In this physics lesson, students calculate density using mass and volume. They share their findings in class.
Curated OER
Float Your Boat
Students investigate buoyancy, displacement and density. In this flotation lesson students study the Archimedes' Principle, analyze data and draw conclusions.
Curated OER
Clay Boats
Seventh graders are given the opportunity to use model-building as a way to help comprehend the forces and phenomena at work in the world around them. They use both successful and unsuccessful models to make inferences, refine...
Curated OER
Build Your Own Submarine
Students construct their own submarine following a certain procedure. In this physics lesson, students calculate the density of objects using a mathematical formula. They explain why some object floats in water while some do not.
Curated OER
Ship Building Trip
Students travel to a ship building plant to see how they are built. They enter into discussion and writing about the task of the building. This activity is multiple intelligence in design and valuable because of the real life exposure.