Students design, build, and test the specifications (water displacement and load line) for a model boat. The lesson focuses especially on integrating design principles with inquiry-based experimental skills.

Introduce your class to storage tank failures caused by major storms with an activity that looks at how the concepts of Archimedes' Principle and Pascal's Law affect the storage tanks along the Houston Ship Channel. The background...

Here is a tasty challenge, especially for middle school engineers: design a container that meets mass and volume criteria, and will safely transport a tortilla or potato chip through the mail without damaging it! Mostly, this is a crisp...

Here's a creative lesson that lets pupils be creative as well! While considering many different factors, learners devise a plan to increase the efficiency of container shipments. The design of the activity encourages creative,...

This open-ended boat building exercise is meant to be part of a three-lesson series on ships. Links to the other two lessons are included. This particular part is mostly a group lab activity in which they build a boat, find its load line...

Students explore package engineering and investigate design.  For this shipping lesson students are given a flower and are to come up with a packaging that will allow the flower to get to its destination as fresh as possible. 

When we think of ocean exploration, many of us have visions of sunken pirate ships full of treasure or mysterious creatures of the deep. What really motivates deep-sea investigation? The first in a series of diverse six-part lessons...

What better way to start your day than with a box of oatmeal? Or what better way to start your geometry class than by calculating its volume? Eighth graders discover just how practical volume computation can be in business and in breakfast!

Seventh graders role play the roles of naval engineer apprentices. In groups, they work together to design a ship which cannot be damaged by freezing ice. They use the internet to research the weather and ocean conditions of the water...

Students research the importance of naval development in history. The unit includes hands-on activities such as the creation of timelines, powerpoints, and use webquests. Students examine famous ships and naval leaders.

Students read two books about fishing and ships. After viewing portraits, they identify and describe the various types of sailing vessels. They discuss how the artist showed water and detailed the areas around the ships. They create...

Rivers aren't just a place for animals to live, they also provide industrial transportation. The class will examine the Hudson River on a map, discuss all the commercial vessels that use the River to transport materials, then complete a...

A well-designed, comprehensive, and attractive slide show supports direct instruction on how sonar and echolocation work. Contained within the slides are links to interactive websites and instructions for using apps on a mobile device to...

Steal cubes sink, but steal ships float. Lesson explores the density of solids as well as the density of water in determining what will sink and what will float. A hands-on group activity helps pupils see that weight and volume are...

Cruise ships offer many engaging opportunities for real-world math adventures. These large, floating cities use resources with numbers into the thousands place. Young mathematicians are asked to calculate numerical information...

Pirate ball is much like the game of capture the flag. Each team has a vault area that contains a treasure chest. There is a dungeon where captured enemy pirates are detained. In this game of pirate ball there are four teams competing to...

Wait til your class gets their hands on this! Aspiring engineers design a working robotic arm in the fifth and final installment in a series of ocean exploration lessons. Pupils learn about the use of underwater robots in ocean...

Students use photographs to examine ship masters and shipyard workers. As a class, they explore other group portraits and discuss the information that can be found from the photos. As a group, they create their own group portrait mural.

High schoolers investigate the case of a German ship containing Jewish refugees seeking asylum from Nazi persecution in the late 1930s. They conduct Internet research, watch a video, and role-play passengers from the St. Louis on a...

Learners work effectively in groups to achieve a common goal: Create the most efficient cargo shipping route. They successfully identify and locate port cities using latitude and longitude. To use the formula r=d/t (rate equals distance...

Junior archaeologists examine types of artifacts from the Bronze Age on the internet. In collaborative groups, they create a story about a ship from this period and then construct a model of the ocean floor after their ship has sunk....

The centerpiece of this lesson plan is a predator-prey simulation in which colored paperclips represent different species of animals camouflaged against a colored background. Relevant follow-up questions are provided. The activity is...

The sheep on the ship was shocked by the Fish on the Shore! Can you guess which digraph we're studying? Take a look at the /sh/ sound with your young readers. Have them write words with the target sound in letter boxes, and then small...

Sinking ships, construction paper, coordinate planes, sounds like fun day in math class. Play the game Battleship with your class and reinforce the concept of graphing ordered pairs.