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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science: Floating and Sinking Objects

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders discuss why some objects float while others sink. They examine various objects and predict whether or not they will sink or float. Students discover the properties needed for objects to float.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Staying Up

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Learners will explain the Archimedes's Principle. In this lesson on plankton, students will describe three factors that can affect the buoyancy of plankton. This lesson contains extensive background information, extensions, and multiple...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Buoyancy Factor

For Teachers 7th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Thermo and Fluid Dynamics of a Homemade "Lava Lamp"

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students construct their own lava lamp using simple substances. In this physics lesson, students explain how difference in density causes convection. They solve for forces and buoyancy using mathematical equations.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Density and Buoyancy Experimental Design

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students must plan, design, and conduct an experiment that answers the scientific question: "Come up with a question that addresses the factors (variables) of the water and its effect on whether an object floats or sinks."
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating the Ideal Cargo Boat

For Teachers 5th - 7th
  Students build boats out of clay to test the buoyancy of the boat in water.  Students break into pairs and construct their boat to specific guide lines, then experiment with their boat in the water.   
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I've Got That Sinking Feeling

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students design a simple boat and predict how much weight it can carry. They should also discover why objects float or sink and how this can be determined experimentally. A great lesson on buoyancy!
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Freshwater/Saltwater "Eggs-Periment"

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore water properties by conducting a class experiment. In this buoyancy lesson plan, students utilize freshwater, saltwater, plastic cups, hard boiled eggs and food coloring to experiment with the floating capabilities of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sink or Swim

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students explore sinking and floating.  In this buoyancy lesson, students conduct an investigation dealing with regular and diet soda. Students drop various soda cans into water and then discuss why some float and some sink. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Water Density and Stability Lab

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students observe how different water densities and salinity control the depth at which different water masses occur. Submarines are used as a case study. This is a well-designed with an excellent worksheet.
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Future Fleet

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Turn your pupils into engineers who are able to use scientific principals to design a ship. This long-term project expects pupils to understand concepts of density, buoyancy, displacement, and metacenter, and apply them to constructing a...
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Lesson Plan
University of Southern California

Design and Test an Air Lift Siphon

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
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
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Floating Pencil

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students discover how salt water makes a pencil float better than freshwater by measuring and comparing the lengths of the portion of the pencil that floats above the water surface. They then determine if an unknown water sample is...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Float Your Boat

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students design an experiment to find density using Archimedes' Principle. In this physics lesson, students calculate density using mass and volume. They share their findings in class.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Condiment Diver: The World's Simplest Cartesian Diver

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers explain what density is in their own words. In this physics lesson, students perform the condiment experiment and explain why some float and some sink. They share their findings in class.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ships 2: What Floats Your Boat?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students design, build, and test the specifications (water displacement and load line) for a model boat. The instructional activity focuses especially on integrating design principles with inquiry-based experimental skills.
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Lesson Plan
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1
Teach Engineering

Archimedes' Principle, Pascal's Law and Bernoulli's Principle

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What do Pascal's law, Archimedes' Principle, and Bernoulli's Principle have to do with fluid mechanics? The included PowerPoint presentation provides the basic definitions and equations associated with the three. A set of homework...
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Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Can You Canoe?

For Teachers 3rd - 7th Standards
A neat handout immerses learners in the history of canoe making. After reading, small groups of mini engineers work to craft a canoe that will not be immersed! This is an ideal exercise in engineering design for your STEM curriculum or...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sink or Float?

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students analyze the relationship between density, buoyancy, and salinity. In this chemical properties instructional activity, students read a background activity for the instructional activity and experiments to the topics. Students...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Properties of Matter: "Sink or Swim"

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders recognize that different materials have different properties which can be observed such as texture and bouyancy, and compare and contrast, through observation, ability of some objects to float because of action of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Chemistry: The Case of the Sunken Ice Cube

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine a density demonstration involving ice cubes and beakers of water and alcohol. After observing how one ice cube floats in water and sinks in alcohol, they determine which mixture of the two would suspend the ice cube in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bathtub Physics - Density, Buoyancy and Flotation

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study Archimedes' Principle, flotation and the reaction of buoyant forces and explain the relationship between density and flotation.
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Teach Engineering

Above-Ground Storage Tanks in the Houston Ship Channel

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Introduce your class to storage tank failures caused by major storms with an activity that looks at how the concepts of Archimedes' Principle and Pascal's Law affect the storage tanks along the Houston Ship Channel. The background...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fishy Physics

For Teachers 4th - 9th
Students explore how fish are able to move easily from one depth to another in water.  In this fish lesson students create their own balloon fish. 

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