This is an educator's guide for a unit on things that sink or float. It includes lesson plans, experiments, and activities. Young scholars apply the scientific method as they investigate whether objects sink or float.

Students investigate water by estimating how long it takes to freeze, then see if the ice cube will float in water, and eventually work with other items to see if they sink or float in water.

Students will investigate what determines whether a material will sink or float. They will be given a bowling ball and have to make measurements and conclusions on whether their bowling ball will float, hover, or sink when placed in an...

An experiment in density. After a review of floating and sinking of different materials, learners test four bottles, all holding four ounces of water, to see if they will float or sink. They each contain a different density of sugar...

For this activity, students make predictions about whether different objects float or sink, then test them. They are asked to record their observations and results for each, and compare their results to others'.

In this activity, students will investigate whether the temperature of water affects its density. Students will place colored hot and cold water in a cup of room-temperature water to see that cold water sinks while hot water floats. Then...

The tradebook, Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen, is an excellent tool in teaching measurement. Students will engage in activities involving different types of measurement. In the story, five animal friends decide to take a boat ride....

Students find the densities of objects based on sinking or floating in this activity that demonstrates Archimedes Principle.

Why do hot air balloons float? This resource from the NOVA Web site offers a series of interactive activities that illustrates the physics of hot air balloons.

This investigation introduces the concepts of volume, mass, and density and how they interact. Students will make predictions of whether an object will float or sink after finding mass and volume of an object.

A lesson where students learn how warm water is less dense than cold water, and what this means for global climate change as ice from the polar regions melts. Students will do experiments in buoyancy and water density when hot or cold,...

For this activity, young scholars investigate whether objects and liquids float or sink when placed in water. As they proceed, they will develop an understanding of what density is. Student handouts are provided.

Students discover fluid dynamics related to buoyancy through experimentation and optional photography. Using one set of fluids, they make light fluids rise through denser fluids. Using another set, they make dense fluids sink through a...

In this lab, students will use the scientific method to design an experiment that explains how/why a submarine floats and sinks.

In this science inquiry, learners investigate whether volume or density of objects determine the floating or sinking in water. Using a rock and a block of wood teachers engage students in the discussion of density, mass and volume.

In this activity, students will see that a carrot slice sinks in fresh water and floats in saltwater. Considering the placement of the carrot slice in water and salt water, students will infer that the density of salt water must be...

Do heavy things always sink and light things always float? In this introductory demonstration and activity, students are introduced to the concept of density as they explore a rock and a wooden block in water.

Students see how surface tension can enable light objects (paper clips, peppercorns) to float on an island of oil in water, and subsequently sink when the surface tension of the oil/water interface is reduced by the addition of a...

Balance the force of gravity with the force of the expanding gasses created by mixing baking soda and vinegar. Create a soda bottle submarine that sinks to the bottom of the bathtub and then rises back to the surface.

A lesson and activity sheet on buoyancy. Students add weight to a helium-filled balloon to keep it suspended so that it won't float or sink, but instead will 'flink.'

Each student uses a small quantity of modeling clay to make a boat that will float in a tub of water. The object is to build a boat that will hold as much weight as possible without sinking. In the process of designing and testing their...

Students will explore matter that sinks or floats when submerged in water and that matter is categorized as either a sinker or a floater. Students will work actively in small, cooperative learning groups as well as gather in a whole...

Use this activity guide to discover about boats and learn some water science.

Help students brainstorm and find a solution as to why Diet Coke floats and Coke sinks. Student will learn to define what density is as they engage in this creative lab. This resource is in PDF form; requires Adobe Reader.