Seventh graders are given the opportunity to use model-building as a way to help comprehend the forces and phenomena at work in the world around them. They use both successful and unsuccessful models to make inferences, refine...

Students use arm muscle strength to perform a partner activity. In this strength building activity, students work with a partner to create a "boat" with mats and a scooter. Partners take turns being pulled or pulling the scooter boat.

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 read London's "To Build a Fire" and Crane's "The Open Boat" and compare and contrast the authors' style as they explore the genre known as American literary naturalism.

Reinforce sentence styles with this lesson, which prompts young grammarians to build complex and compound-complex sentence structures. They respond to non-print text and identify subordinators as parts of speech procedure. They spell...

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.

Learners conduct research with the purpose of writing a report about the Titanic. They use a variety of resources. The students produce a written document that has plenty of documented information. They also compare the information that...

Students use the internet to research the advancements in transportation on rivers throughout 1800 and 1900. In groups, they use a picture to build their own model of a steamboat using everyday materials. To end the lesson, they use...

Complete a series of activities based on the Flat Stanley books in this literature study lesson. Introduce the book with a discussion of supernatural qualities, then learnerscan create character webs, write news articles, build kites and...

Students develop a fast travelling hull for a boat. In this physical science lesson plan, the students' hulls will be tested in a channel (built by the teacher) with a fan as the driving force. The students will compete for who has the...

Young scholars design a boat model with simplified steam engine. In this ecology lesson, students compare renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. They determine the efficiency of their boat model.

Students experiment with buoyancy as a force. In this buoyancy lesson, students access an assigned website to examine the sailing vessels that came to the New World. They work as teams to build boats out of aluminum foil to see which...

Students explore how various ramps affect the rate of speed of a rolling object. In this physics lesson, students work in groups to build a ramp out of various materials. Students test and record the rate of speed of a rolling object by...

Students explore the building of a pyramid and how pulleys were used to change the direction of applied force. They demonstrate the mechanical advantage of using a pulley and apply it to modern engineering.

High schoolers use paper plates and detailed directions to build a model of the Michigan Avenue Bridge's gear system. By carefully measuring and cutting "teeth" for the gears of the "Gear Train," they create small gear that will...

Students examine Newton's three laws of motion to discover what causes it and how it changes. They conduct motion experiments by building catapults and constructing balloon rockets. Finally, they conduct peer studies correlating...

Students discuss Newton's laws of motion. The conduct motion experiments by building "Newton Rocket Cars" from assorted materials. They propel the cars with rubber bands and wooden blocks and record the distance traveled on data sheets.

How can you determine the maximum speed of a sailboat? A sailing presentation included with a straightforward lesson plan prompts learners to calculate the maximum speed of a sailboat with a displacement hull. The...

Sailboat design requires more than a half-circle and triangle sketch. After viewing a slideshow presentation that outlines the requirements for sailboat design, learners draw a design, perform the needed...

Facilitate learning by using small objects to teach the principles of atomic mass in your science class. Pupils determine the average mass of varying beans as they perform a series of competitive experiments. They gather data and...

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 identify the key characteristics that comprise American literary naturalism in Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat." In this naturalism analysis lesson, students identify characteristics of the...

Sixth graders read the book CALL IT COURAGE by Armstrong Sperry. They use the Internet to research and work in groups to write ocean chants. They construct dioramas and build a sea turtle withK'NEX.

Students explore and analyze the relationship of buoyancy and displacement needed to make an object float. They examine various boat designs, then design and build clay and aluminum boats that hold a cargo of marbles.