Students experiment floating a variety of objects in various liquids. They discover how density affects the ability of an object to float and apply the concept of density to solve problems.

NASA presents a mini-unit on distances in our solar system. It incorporates scientific concepts of gravity, mass, density, and payload while your aspiring astronauts also employ mathematics skills. They calculate speed, they determine...

All soil is not created equal! A lab activity asks learners to collect and analyze soil. Specific calculations determine the amount of sand, silt, and clay in a sample and allow individuals to identify the soil texture. 

Tenth graders investigate the carbon monoxide level at a fixed latitude. They determine if there is a relationship to population density. They download data sets and generate a graph. They determine a link between human activity and...

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 instructional activity of six from NOAA....

Swimmers know to float by turning their bodies horizontally rather than vertically, but why does that make a difference? In an interesting lesson, scholars explore buoyancy and the properties of air and water. They test cups to see which...

Swirling and churning, the waters of the North Atlantic play a vital role in Earth's climate! Discover the many factors that produce circulation using a multimedia instructional activity from PBS's Weather and Climate series for high...

Experiment with mass and density as scholars figure out what makes things float or sink. First, they watch a podcast introducing these concepts. Be sure to use the comprehension question to test their understanding. Young scientists...

Middle schoolers analyze given data on density and diameter of objects in space by graphing the data and then discussing their findings. This ninth installment of a 22-part series emphasizes the Galilean moons as compared to other...

How is it possible for ocean water to have layers? The sixth installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program investigates factors that cause different water densities to occur. Experiments...

Use this art lesson to study insolubility and density. Combining water-based paint and mineral oil will cause a fun and interactive painting. This is a great art project to incorporate during a science unit.

Junior chemists manufacture biodiesel in the lab. In this exercise, they check the purity of the biodiesel using thin layer chromatography. They also calculate its density and heat of combustion. They are sure to rise to the...

Fifth graders apply the concepts they know regarding mass, volume and density in the previous activities to design a boat. Student teams must make a boat which can travel the waters of the Amazon Rainforest. Each group makes a...

Elementary-aged scientists discover that all matter has mass. They are shown the difference between mass and weight, and learn how to calculate mass using the appropriate tools and methods. The scientific method is used while estimating...

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...

Students investigate water density. In this water density lesson, students conduct an experiment with food coloring, water and salt to see how the salt effects bodies of water.

First graders conduct an experiment. In this density instructional activity, 1st graders work in groups to test 10 different objects to see which ones sink and float. Students discuss why certain objects float and others do not.

Bone up on bone density. The second installment of the seven-part series has pupils read articles on two different websites to learn about bone density and its measurement, as well as X-rays and other imaging tools. A quiz assesses their...

Why are the properties of the water important when exploring the ocean? Young scientists discover the tools and technology used in deep sea exploration in the fourth installment in a five-part series. Groups work together to...

An engating lesson plan relates mass and volume to better understand density. Young scientists explore and experiment with floating and sinking as well as density cubes. Then, they solve how to make a sinking item float.

Not many lessons on states of matter can hold a candle to this one! Junior chemists gauge the density of paraffin in both liquid and solid phases. They fill 60 mL syringes with different materials to experiment with compressibility and...

Note that this lesson is best paired with the preceding lesson in the unit. In that lesson, elementary physical scientists observed that the color coating of M&Ms® candies do not mix when dissolved off of the chocolate surface. Now...

This open-ended boat building exercise is meant to be part of a three-instructional activity series on ships. Links to the other two lessons are included. This particular part is mostly a group lab activity in which they build a boat,...

Students explore the causes of differences in density. Students choose objects, measure the mass and volume, and calculate the density of each. They perform additional density experiments to model atoms and their correspondence to...