Students extend their understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design and testing of ships. students discover that most ships are constructed very similarly-whether they are schooners or destroyers.

Students develop their own techniques for drawing a small sample of solutions into a straw. They hypothesize ways to increase the density of water, and discuss how salt-free rainwater tends to float on top of salty seawater.

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...

Can scientists sort molecules based on their interaction with oil and water? The simulation demonstrates how this is possible. Pupils decide when to insert a molecule and observe how they sort themselves based on polarity.

In this density worksheet, students calculate the density of objects given their mass and volume. They are given a table with the density of a variety of substances and given the mass or volume and must find the unknown.

Create a cushion of carbon dioxide gas to float some soap bubbles on. Many concepts can be demonstrated through this activity: Carbon dioxide gas is more dense than air Bubbles are semipermeable, allowing only carbon dioxide to diffuse...

Match animals to their environments with a cute lab activity. Kids draw a line between each animal, such as a fish, a rabbit, and an ant, to the place where it lives. For hands-on practice, a science investigation instructs learners to...

What do we do when a dive is too dangerous for humans to accomplish? Send in the robots! Middle school scientists get acquainted with several different models of submersible robots in the second lesson of six from NOAA. Lab groups then...

Students use the Scientific Method steps to complete an experiment on various brands of soap to determine their floating capabilities. In this scientific method lesson, students write a hypothesis about the ability of various soap bars...

Tenth graders experiment with floating and sinking objects and heavy and light liquids, using correct terms, like density, to explain what happens.  In this Hindenburg lesson, 10th graders watch a demonstration called the invisible...

In this earth science worksheet, students read a poem about the wind and learn why the wind blows. After reading the poem and informative paragraphs that follow it, kids answer 2 questions regarding the information they read. Finally,...

Students study the different types of plastics and see which ones sink or remain buoyant.  In this ocean environmental lesson plan students complete several handouts, and view a film on PBS.

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.

Students end up learning the formula for density and calculate the densities of various materials, and predict if they sink or float.

Learners formulate a hypothesis using critical thinking skills. They use an orange to examine the displacement of water as the orange sinks or floats.

Different substances can have different densities, but can the same substance have different densities? Lesson explores the effect of temperature on the density of water. Extension idea connects the concept of how melting ice in lakes...

Students study the properties of the physical and natural world. In this properties of the physical and natural world lesson, preschool students work at discovery tables to see how simple machines work, what happens when items are put...

In this density learning exercise, students read about density, volume and mass. They then use what they learned to answer the 8 questions on the page. The answers are on the last page.

Students investigate Archimedes' Principle and show how it relates to density. In this Archimedes' Principle lesson plan, students experiment with a beaker of water, a Styrofoam "boat" and a weight. They predict what will happen when the...

Whatever floats your boat. Young engineers learn about density by measuring the masses and volumes of boxes filled with different materials. Using their knowledge of densities, they hypothesize whether objects with given densities will...

Sixth graders develop an understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design of testing of ships.

Combine science and literature with this activity on buoyancy. Read There's an Ant in Anthony by Bernard Most to examine words containing the letters a, n, and t. Then introduce your class to the word "buoyant." Demonstrate how an...

Learners perform experiments to examine if debris float, or blow in the wind. The effects of these characteristics on the marine debris are then discussed. They determine how a material can influence what becomes marine debris.

Now is the time to educate tomorrow's citizens to care for the planet, and here is a lesson to help facilitate the process. Collect some marine debris and bring it into class. Have your class separate it into types and then test each...