Pique interest in water pressure, demonstrate buoyancy, and explore water displacement concepts with a homemade Cartesian diver. You may want to change the name of the toy, however, as is is not documented the Rene Descartes...

Don't be dense—use a robust resource. The second installment of a five-part Floaters and Sinkers unit has learners determine the densities of several objects. As part of the activity, they learn the displacement method for finding...

This resource was written for the younger math learner, but finding the volume of an irregular solid is also a problem for algebra and geometry students. Based on Archimedes’ Principle, one can calculate the volume of a stone by...

Mass and density — aren't they the same thing? This activity has groups use balance beams and water displacement to measure several objects. The pupils use the measurements to calculate the density of the objects. 

For this secondary mathematics learning exercise, high schoolers collect data based on a person’s motion. From this data, high schoolers create graphs comparing displacement, velocity, and acceleration to time. The five-page learning...

Eureka! Using the clay boats made in the previous lesson, learners investigate the idea of buoyancy and water displacement to finish the last installment of five in a Floaters and Sinkers unit. Their observations during the activity...

Class members have an opportunity to consider issues faced by refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by participating in a series of activities that illustrate some of the challenges refugees experience. 

World War II not only resulted in major loss of life, but it also displaced thousands of people. An eye-opening activity uses primary documents to explore the refugee crisis during World War II. Scholars compare the event to modern-day...

Learners will shout "Eureka!" in this quick but deep activity replicating the famous bathtub experiment of Archimedes. Given the scenario of a king with a suspected fake crown, young investigators develop formulas using density to...

Whatever floats your boat—with some additional weight. The first activity in a five-part series challenges pupils to design a boat to hold pennies. Using the design process, learners design, build, and test their boats, making sure they...

Make solutions to projectile motion problems magically appear using equations. Pupils watch a clip from a Harry Potter movie and find the length of time it takes for a remembrall to fall into Harry's hands. They use a projectile motion...

Seventh grade scientists weigh in on the concept of density. In a nutshell, they participate in the following activities: Measurement of the mass and volume of fruit in order to compare densities Measurement of the mass of oil and water...

Your classroom will overflow with learning as they analyze the volume in a pot of meatballs. Young mathematicians predict the number of meatballs that will make a pot of sauce overflow. They incorporate both the volume of cylinders and...

Young historians delve into the world of teenage refugees during WWII to understand their experiences. The activity focuses on a writing assignment from a teen staying at a US refugee camp to explore the struggles they faced, such as...

Find an explanation for the sea level rise. Pupils investigate the difference that melting land ice and sea ice have on the sea level. Groups create two models—one with ice on land and one with ice in the water. As the ice melts, teams...

Use the handout as guided or independent practice in drawing a reflection of a rectangle over a line. Three rectangles are provided for practice in addition to a critical thinking question.

The challenge: determine whether a tank will float. A design activity has groups work as engineering teams in order to determine the stability of given tanks and liquid contents. The teams need to determine the equations to...

Compare and contrast your habitat with that of endangered plants and animals! Learners discuss what a habitat is actually comprised of, describing what theirs looks like. They fill out a graphic organizer explaining what they eat, how...

Present the class with a question on whether the water level of a pond will rise they take a large rock out of a boat and drop it into the pond. Groups come down on all sides of the question and try to justify their answers. The activity...

What does stretching a balloon have to do with equilibrium? Groups explore preconditioning by stretching a balloon to a point of equilibrium. They then measure the amount of force required to stretch the balloon to the same point several...

It is not always easy to walk the straight and narrow. In the sixth portion of a nine-part unit, groups actively recreate a graph depicting motion. Individuals walk toward or away from a motion detector while trying to match a given...

Is containing a conflict possible in the Horn of Africa? Young peacekeepers engage in a simulation that examines the multi-faceted conflict that exists between the countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Representatives from ten countries in...

Apply the ideas of distance and displacement to move an object using the proper sequence of steps.

A program that will randomly move an object from one location to another in three dimensional space. You must determine the length of the displacement vector that is created by this movement.