Playing with balloons, water, oil, and bottles help put this lesson over the top! Participants use air-filled balloons in water tanks to experience gas compression. They also use oil-filled bottles to experiment with buoyancy. Included...

Students demonstrate an awareness of air as a substance that surrounds us and takes up space, and whose movement we feel as wind. They predict and describe how local weather conditions affect living things, including themselves.

Students participate in various air experiments to understand that air is all around us. In this states of matter lesson, students focus on the role of air in the water cycle. Students understand that air is densest near the ground....

Students perform experiments measuring water pressure. They record their observations after poking holes in plastic bottles filled with water with the lids on and then off. They discover the role gravity plays in the water flow.

Build an air lift siphon using your mad physics skills! Learners first investigate the importance of circulating water in aquaponics systems. They then use density to their advantage as they engineer an air lift siphon

Students complete an experiment with a glass of water and cover the opening with cardboard and turn it over. In this gravity lesson plan, students observe how air pressure does not allow the cardboard to fall and let the water out.

Students explore the concept of air. In this gravity lesson, students perform various experiments that deal with gravity, air resistance, and air pressure.

Learners 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...

Students explore how a water turbine operates and observe the principles of the water turbine. They account for the speed of the water turbine by various experiments and records of test results. In groups the students create a working...

What did the sea say to the boat? Nothing, it just waved. An inquiry-based lesson starts with a simple concept on the Archimedes Principle and challenges pupils to make something out of clay that floats. Then, they design...

Students determine the basic types of pumps and how they work in terms of pressure, velocity, and elevation differences. They build two examples of gravity-driven water pumps.

Pupils examine the basic types of pumps. They build a gravity-driven water pump and solve a mystery using their knowledge of pressures and pumps.

Students investigate methods used by aeronautical engineers to keep rockets on target. After exploring the center of gravity and the center of pressure, students build water rockets. Students use various methods to design fins on the...

Students explore the changing density of water. In this physics lesson, students investigate how an object's density determines whether it will float or sink in water. They explain why this unique property of is important to living things.

Students create a model of a column of air and discover one of the reasons why low and high pressure systems exist and why low pressure is often associated with bad weather.

Middle schoolers investigate how glaciers flow through valleys. They answer discussion questions, and in small groups create a simulation of a glacier using a plastic shoe box, water, cornstarch, and pebbles, evaluating their results on...

Students design a rocket that stays on air for the longest period of time. In this physics lesson, students research the function of different rocket components. They test their design and make necessary modifications.

Students examine why some objects float in water while others sink and the ability of something to float does not depend entirely on its weight. Archimedes' principle is introduced and buoyant force is discussed. Practice calculations...

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.

Students explore the different properties of ice. They make predictions and experment with ice. Students discover that ice melts faster under pressure. Students create a flipbook what what happened after each experiment. This...

Young scholars discuss glaciers and the current distribution of glaciers around the Earth. They create simulated glaciers using cornstarch, shoeboxes, water, and pebbles.