Curated OER
Floating Fishes: How do Fishes Control Buoyancy?
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...
US Geological Survey
Water Cycle Poster
How many parts make up the water cycle? How many things on Earth rely on water as a system? Learn more about the water cycle in an informative and colorful poster. Print and hang, or project the graphic in the classroom for optimal use.
Foundation for Water & Energy Education
Perpetual Flow Activity
Set up a demonstration of how gravity can drive the perpetual flow of water during your hydro power unit. Science learners work in teams to make observations and formulate questions about how it works. They compare the model to what they...
Curated OER
Water Pressure Experiments
Students perform experiments measuring water pressure. They record their observations after poking holes in plastic bottles filled with water with the lids on and then off. They discover the role gravity plays in the water flow.
Curated OER
Water and Ice
Students participate in various air experiments to understand that air is all around us. In this states of matter lesson, students focus on the role of air in the water cycle. Students understand that air is densest near the ground....
Curated OER
Experience Gravity Free Water
Students complete an experiment with a glass of water and cover the opening with cardboard and turn it over. In this gravity lesson plan, students observe how air pressure does not allow the cardboard to fall and let the water out.
Curated OER
Exploring Buoyancy
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...
Curated OER
Water Power
Students explore how a water turbine operates and observe the principles of the water turbine. They account for the speed of the water turbine by various experiments and records of test results. In groups the students create a working...
Curated OER
Air and Water in the Environment
Students demonstrate an awareness of air as a substance that surrounds us and takes up space, and whose movement we feel as wind. They predict and describe how local weather conditions affect living things, including themselves.
Curated OER
Locks and Dams
Students learn about locks and dams when it comes to blocking water. In this dam lesson, students learn about the structure, function, and purpose of locks and dams. They also learn about water pressure and gravity.
DiscoverE
Pipe Maze
Here's a lesson that is simply a-MAZE-ing! Introduce science scholars to pipeline systems through a hands-on project. Partnered pupils participate in the design, construct, and test a PVC pipeline maze. Reusable materials and clear...
University of Southern California
Design and Test an Air Lift Siphon
Build an air lift siphon using your mad physics skills! Learners first investigate the importance of circulating water in aquaponics systems. They then use density to their advantage as they engineer an air lift siphon
Utah Education Network (UEN)
Utah Open Textbook: 6th Grade Science
There are many interactions among living things and their surroundings. By completing a reading, scholars learn about the Earth, the moon, and the sun and how they relate to the solar system. They also investigate the basics of physical...
Curated OER
Siphon Pump
Learners determine the basic types of pumps and how they work in terms of pressure, velocity, and elevation differences. They build two examples of gravity-driven water pumps.
Curated OER
Pumps
Students examine the basic types of pumps. They build a gravity-driven water pump and solve a mystery using their knowledge of pressures and pumps.
Curated OER
Air: Demonstrating Its Presence and Effects
Students explore the concept of air. In this gravity lesson, students perform various experiments that deal with gravity, air resistance, and air pressure.
Curated OER
Earth's Atmosphere
In this Earth's atmosphere learning exercise, students observe the effects of air pressure using an egg. They describe what happens to the egg and what makes it do what it does. Then they determine how to get the egg out of the bottle...
PHET
Planet Designer: Martian Makeover
Mars used to have liquid water, can you make it come back? Use the activity and simulation to understand why Mars lost its magnetic field, why atmosphere is important, and what gravity has to do with it. This is the third activity in a...
Teach Engineering
What Floats Your Boat?
Clay's as good a material as any to build a boat, right? An introductory lesson sets the stage for two activities associated with buoyancy. The first involves building boats out of clay, while the second uses these boats to measure the...
Normal Community High School
Density
Change the density of water by adding minerals. The presentation discusses density—from the definition to calculations—and applies it to the real world. It briefly mentions specific gravity, and finishes by showing Archimedes' principle.
Curated OER
Ice Floats
Students explore the changing density of water. In this physics lesson, students investigate how an object's density determines whether it will float or sink in water. They explain why this unique property of is important to living things.
Curated OER
Forces and Pressure
In this forces worksheet, students will review the different types of forces and how forces are measured. This worksheet has 9 fill in the blank, 1 short answer, and 11 multiple choice questions.
Curated OER
Spin Stabilization
Students investigate methods used by aeronautical engineers to keep rockets on target. After exploring the center of gravity and the center of pressure, students build water rockets. Students use various methods to design fins on the...
Curated OER
Forces of Nature Vocabulary Quiz
In this science worksheet, learners draw lines to match 13 words pertaining to forces of nature to their definitions in another column. Example: tornado, tide, erosion, pressure.