Curated OER
Floating Fishes: How do Fishes Control Buoyancy?
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...
Florida International University
Designing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV): Concepts in Lift, Drag, Thrust, Energy, Power, Mass, and Buoyancy
Engineer an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to study concepts of physics. Using household materials, collaborative groups design and build an AUV and then test Newton's Laws of Motion as they apply them in underwater environments...
California Academy of Science
Buoyancy Bulls-Eye
Why does a seastar sink, but a jellyfish float? Through a fun investigation, learners examine the concept of buoyancy using simple household items. The challenge: create neutral buoyancy for an action figure in water. With ample teacher...
Curated OER
Sink or Swim
Students explore sinking and floating. In this buoyancy lesson plan, 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.
Curated OER
The Stone Boat Mystery
Students design and execute a lab through which they study the distinctions between density, buoyancy, and volume.
Curated OER
Properties of Matter: "Sink or Swim"
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...
Curated OER
Life and Death Situations in Swimming
Students practice dealing with different water emergencies such as: "survival floating," and using a life preserver to pull others to safety.
Curated OER
Condiment Diver: The World's Simplest Cartesian Diver
Middle schoolers examine buoyancy. In this density instructional activity students form a hypothesis, collect data and draw a conclusion using the data.
Curated OER
How Wet Can You Get?
Students visit a swimming pool and brainstorm different water sports and what benefits swimming has over other types of exercise. They then discuss buoyancy and water pressure and when how objects sink or float before playing a game of...
Curated OER
Life and Death Situations in Swimming
Students practice what to do in the case of water emergencies. They experiment with using a pair of jeans to create a flotation device and learn to use a life preserver to pull others to safety.
Curated OER
Floating Fishes: Fishing Expedition
A referenced PowerPoint is not included, but this lesson can still make an impact with emerging environmentalists. After introducing them to the facts about overfishing, they experiment with a fishing simulation using colored beads and...
Curated OER
Sink or Swim
Young scholars define density and explain how to determine the density of an object. Students participate in a demonstration that shows the differences in the densities of different liquids and how they affect the liquid's physical...
Curated OER
Ancient Creature of the Deep
Students compare and contrast the coelacanth, a living fossil, with a moray eel and a bull shark. They complete a Fish Anatomy worksheet while researching the skeleton, body coverings and buoyancy of each fish.
Curated OER
Fishy Physics
Students explore how fish are able to move easily from one depth to another in water. In this fish instructional activity students create their own balloon fish.
Curated OER
Week 8 - Sea Life
Using a magnifier, mini marine biologists examine the barbules of a bird feather. They swirl the it into a mixture of oil and water and then re-examine the feather. After the activity, discuss how the oily feathers pose a problem to sea...
Curated OER
Submersible Designer
Students work in groups to design, build, and test a submersible prototype. In this engineering lesson, students learn about the importance and design of submersible vessels and apply their knowledge by building one of their own. They...
Curated OER
Let's Get Moving
Students participate in sports activities that relate to motion, velocity and momentum. They produce a PowerPoint presentation after researching the activities.