Curated OER
Liquid Rainbow
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.
Teach Engineering
Clay Boats
Clay itself sinks, but clay boats float. Why? Young engineers build clay boats to learn about buoyancy. They test the weight the boats can hold using washers and then tweak their designs to make improvements, following the engineering...
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
WS 1.7 Density
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.
Concord Consortium
Molecular Sorting
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.
Exploratorium
Bubble Suspension
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...
Curated OER
Investigating the Effect of Salinity on the Density and Stability of Water
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...
Curated OER
Exploring Density with Salt and Fresh Water: Part 5
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...
Curated OER
Density Laboratory Gizmo
In this mass worksheet, students fill in a chart with different items and their volume, whether they float or sink, and their density. Students complete this for 10 items and answer 6 multiple choice mass questions.
Curated OER
Day Two: Generating New Questions
Students investigate buoyancy by participating in a lab experiment. In this density lesson, students utilize vinegar and alcohol in beakers and attempt to float different items in them. Students analyze which items float and do not while...
Curated OER
Why Cheerios Don't Sink
Learners 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...
Curated OER
Float My Boat
Fourth graders, in groups, experiment with density and the displacement of water by creating and designing their own boats and seeing which boat holds the most centimeter cubes without sinking..
Curated OER
What Floats Your Boat?
Learners discover the Archimedes principle through a buoyancy experiment. They measure the water displacement of a lump a clay which is denser than water then reshape the clay into a bowl which floats but displaces more water.
Curated OER
Wonderful Water
Pupils identify the various states of water and its natural flow downward. As a class, students take digital pictures of different forms of water and create a multimedia presentation describing their photographs. Groups of pupils perform...
Center for Learning in Action
Properties of Balls
Enhance your states of matter lessons with a hands-on science investigation that compares six different balls' color, texture, size, weight, ability to bounce, and buoyancy.
NOAA
Come on Down!
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...
Curated OER
Give Me a Tall Ship
Sixth graders develop an understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design of testing of ships.
Curated OER
Marine Debris
Students 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.
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Gift for the Indians: Model of the Mayflower in the Ocean
Students build a miniature replica of the Mayflower. They make the boat float in a cup of water while studying the concept of gift giving on Feast Day.
Curated OER
Prime and Composite Numbers - Kenwood Academy
Learners investigate prime and composite numbers. They use a number chart and cross out multiples of 2,3,5 etc. up to 100. Pupils fold pieces of masking tape around pennies and label them with composite numbers, then fold masking tape...
Curated OER
The Good Microbes
Some microbes are beneficial for humans. This resource asks learners to identify beverages that contain healthy microbes. There are six beverages shown, and pupils must place a check mark next to the ones they think contain healthy...
Curated OER
Build Your Own Submarine
Students construct their own submarine following a certain procedure. In this physics lesson plan, students calculate the density of objects using a mathematical formula. They explain why some object floats in water while some do not.
Curated OER
Activity #14 Floating Bubbles
Students comprehend that Carbon dioxide gas is relatively easy to generate. They comprehend that one way to produce it is with dry ice. Pupils comprehend that carbon dioxide gas can also be produced by combining baking soda with vinegar.