Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Role of Density in Sinking or Floating: Relational Causality

For Teachers Higher Ed
Students watch the teacher do a demonstration of density with diet and regular soda. Note: try this first, as different types of artificial sweetener have different densities. Students discuss density and volume. They discuss "Relational...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science: Floating and Sinking Objects

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders discuss why some objects float while others sink. They examine various objects and predict whether or not they will sink or float. Students discover the properties needed for objects to float.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's the Matter with My Snow?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students collect snow samples around their school. They explore the concepts of density and phase change as well as the math skills of measurement and statistics. Students explore the water cycle through an interactive, down loadable...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: Oil Spill Cleanup

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students experiment by creating an oil spill and trying a number of clean up methods. They determine which methods are the least costly and most effective. They role play as an environmental engineer and as an oil company owner who must...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Floats Your Boat?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students are introduced to the concept of buoyancy. The Video used in this activity demonstrates and explains the characteristics of objects that sink and float. It presents the concepts of displacement, weight, and buoyancy.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Density Derby

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students explore the relationship between mass, volume and density. They use model boats to discover how changing mass and volume affect density. This is a very engaging lesson which provides great demonstrations and hands-on activities.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Density And Volume

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders explore the concept of density as a relationship of an object's mass to its volume. Densities of a variety of objects are compared and used to identify an unknown object.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rock Density Lab

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Students use a balance and weigh a rock sample. They weigh the rock suspended on a sling in a glass of water. They tabulate the rock's density using the two weights and compare the density of various rocks of similar sizes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Are You a Trend Setter?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students are introduced to the periodic table of elements. They devise and perform and experiment in which they determine the density of specific elements. They use their results to predict the density of other elements in the same group.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Weighing a Dinosaur

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Young scholars role play as paleontologists who make inferences about the weight of dinosaurs. They use models and the density of water to make these inferences.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's the Matter? (Grades 6-7)

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Students explain the physical properties of matter. They, in groups, perform a variety of experiments, each demonstrating a different property of matter. A very nice, hands-on lesson!
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Weight of Water

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students examine how salt water is more dense than fresh water through experimentation with eggs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Grasshopper Mark and Recapture (GMR)

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students estimate the density of a population of insects (grasshoppers) at a given life cycle stage in a given type of habitat.
PPT
Curated OER

Jeopardy 8th Grade (Science)

For Teachers 7th - 8th
There are so many topics touched upon in this Jeopardy-style science game, that it is difficult to classify! The categories include electricity, matter, ecology, earth and space, and scientific investigation. This would best be used at...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Activity: Float a Clay Boat

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Written to introduce pupils to buoyancy, this activity has collaborative groups work to design a floatable clay boat. They first observe that a stick of clay sinks in water and then are given their own stick to reshape into a floating...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Density

For Students 9th - 10th
In this biology worksheet, students use the given clues at the bottom of the sheet to solve the crossword puzzle on density. They identify how density in mass is divided. Students also measure the density of water in grams.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Day Two: Generating New Questions

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students investigate buoyancy by participating in a lab experiment. In this density lesson, students utilize vinegar and alcohol in beakers and attempt to float different items in them. Students analyze which items float and do not while...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Day Six: Floater What Ifs

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Students observe earth science by examining results from an experiment. In this buoyancy lesson, students practice floating different items in two different liquids and identify why certain objects will float and others sink. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Heavy Ice: Day Five

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students explore physics by conducting a class experiment. In this density lesson, students examine a list of items and discuss whether they will sink or float and then determine their density. Students examine the objects over five days...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Pressure, Density and Buoyancy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate how changing pressure affects density. In this physics lesson, students explain the relationship between density and pressure. They observe the Cartesian diver in the lab as pressure is changed inside.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Density and Buoyancy Lesson Plan

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate why some objects float or sink in water. For this physics lesson, students calculate the density of clay ball using a mathematical equation. They write a complete lab report about the experiment.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Magnus Effect

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Pupils examine the Magnus effect and its history.  In this forces instructional activity students investigate the lift of a rotating cylinder.      
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ocean Layers

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students investigate how temperature and salinity causes ocean layering. In this ecology lesson, students observe and sketch their experimental result. They report their findings in class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Archimedes' Principle

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students examine the relationship between density and buoyancy.  In this physics lesson students use Archimedes' Principle to complete calculations on buoyancy and a lab activity.