How do temperature changes affect ocean currents? Scholars explore convection currents by demonstrating the flow of water in a baking dish. They use ice, heat, and food coloring to see currents. Then, they draw conclusions about their...

Water with varying amounts of dissolved salt are dyed and then used to compare densities. The objective is to discover the effect of salinity, and therefore density, on ocean water on the stability of the ocean. Many branches of science...

This particular lesson plan was written by the National Earth Science Teachers Association, but density is a concept that you can teach at the beginning of the school year in your life, physical, or earth science classes. It would be fun...

Middle schoolers examine buoyancy.  In this density lesson students form a hypothesis, collect data and draw a conclusion using the data. 

Students explore the concept of density by trying to make a penny and other materials float.

Save the soup! Scholars devise a flotation device using straws, balloons, foam, corks, and other objects. A can of soup must stay afloat for at least a minute with this device—your dinner might depend on it!

First graders listen to the book "Mr. Betts and Mr. Potts" and examine the career of being a veterinarian. They categorize animals based on whether they could be house pets or not, develop a class pet graph, and list the various...

Students have seen that solids, which are more dense than a liquid, that sinks in that liquid and solids, which are less dense than a liquid, that floats on that liquid. They use a metal boat to float in water. Pupils comprehend that...

Students explore density by floating golf balls. They explore having their golf balls float halfway in a container of water and discuss density and its realtionship to where the golf balls are floating. After adding food coloring, they...

Three simple activities kick off a unit investigation of density. Your physical scientists make observations on the volume and mass of wood, water, and rocks, and make comparisons. Though this is written for grades three through eight,...

Begin with an introduction to famous deep-sea submersibles. Learners work in groups to gather information on different vessels and then share with the class. Each group then uses water displacement to help calculate the density of...

Make a splash with young scientists as you teach them all about water using this activity packet. Thirstin, a cartoon glass of water, walks children through the water treatment process, teaches them about different sources of water, and...

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...

How do astronauts know how to live and work in a weightless environment? It doesn't come naturally! Junior physicists conduct experiments to examine the link between buoyancy and microgravity. Each activity illustrates a different aspect...

Using context clues is a valuable skill in reading comprehension. Help kids to learn about homonyms with a multiple-choice instructional activity, in which they read two sentences and fill in the blanks with the word that would work in...

Middle schoolers participate in an experiment to determine if a toy boat will sink or float. They make the boats out of different materials and determine its carrying capacity by adding pennies. They graph their findings on a classroom...

Fourth graders examine pumpkins and use the scientific method to explore its contents.  In this Pumpkin Science lesson, 4th graders measure pumpkins for circumference. Students dress as if they were in a lab and work in pairs to...

In this sixth of seven activities revolving around the concept of density, physical science fans figure out if anything can be done to change the density of an object. Demonstrate by placing a can of regular and a can of diet soda into a...

Continuing with the concept of volume and its effect on density, learners now work with a piece of clay to see if they can get it to float in water. This is a memorable end to a seven-part investigation of density. Make sure to check out...

Investigators construct a makeshift balance and compare equal volumes of wax and water. They do the same for clay and water. Then they discover whether the wax and clay will float or sink in water. Ultimately this is a comparison of...

Fourth in a set of several little lessons on density, this one compares the density of fresh and salt water. First by demonstration, and then by a hands-on activity, learners find that adding salt increases the density, as is evidenced...

Students participate in several density lab activities in order to clarify the misconceptions that solids sink and liquids float. Students work with triple beam balances to find mass of objects to calculate density.

Students experiment with different salinities of water using straws and different colors of water. They collect and interpret data from the experiment.