Curated OER
Volume by Water Displacement
In this measuring volume learning exercise, students are given 2 diagrams for 24 problems. In the first diagram they are given a graduated cylinder with an initial volume of water. In the second diagram they are give a graduated cylinder...
Curated OER
Displacement and Density
High schoolers explore displacement. In this displacement and density lesson plan, pupils find the volume of irregular shaped objects. Afterward, they determine the volume of containers. They compute the amount of water displacement.
Curated OER
Volume Lab
How can we find volume if it a shape isn't easy to measure? Investigate methods for determining this as the volume of regular and irregular objects is explored in several stations. Learners discover that when the standard formula for...
Curated OER
Measuring Matter
Explore various types of measurement with fourth graders. They will practice using balance pans to measure the weight of a coin and a graduated cylinder to determine the displacement volume for a bolt. The metric system will be the focus...
Curated OER
Water Displacement to Determine Volume
Sixth graders explore the water displacement method to determine the volume of solid objects such as rocks, nails, and marbles.
Curated OER
MEASURING THE DENSITY OF WATER
Learners perform an experiment to measure the density of tap water vs. salt water.
Curated OER
What Floats Your Boat?
This open-ended boat building exercise is meant to be part of a three-lesson 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, find its load line...
Illustrative Mathematics
Computing Volume Progression 4
This resource was written for the younger math learner, but finding the volume of an irregular solid is also a problem for algebra and geometry students. Based on Archimedes’ Principle, one can calculate the volume of a stone by...
Curated OER
Barge Building: What Floats Your Boat?
Students construct aluminum foil boats that float while holding the greatest number of pennies. They investigate the concept of water displacement, record their results, and watch a Bill Nye video on buoyancy.
Teach Engineering
What Floats Your Boat?
Clay's as good a material as any to build a boat, right? An introductory lesson sets the stage for two activities associated with buoyancy. The first involves building boats out of clay, while the second uses these boats to measure the...
Cornell University
Buoyancy
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...
Santa Monica College
The Density of Liquids and Solids
There are underwater rivers that flow on the ocean floor thanks to a difference in density. Scholars learn about the density in both liquids and solids in the second lesson of an 11-part series. They then determine the density of water,...
Teach Engineering
Density Column Lab - Part 1
Mass and density — aren't they the same thing? This activity has groups use balance beams and water displacement to measure several objects. The pupils use the measurements to calculate the density of the objects.
Curated OER
Rising Waters
Fourth graders rank balls by size from smallest to largest and from lightest to heaviest and then by how much they made the water rise. They then discuss why certain balls make the water rise higher than do other balls.
Curated OER
Volume
In this volume lab instructional activity, students are guided through an experiment to determine volume of a liquid. Students determine water displacement. Students use a formula to calculate volume of a solid figure.
Curated OER
Mass and Density of an Irregular Solid
In this physics worksheet, students determine the density of irregular solids using water displacement method to complete 7 problems and short answer questions.
Curated OER
Move that Tower
Students investigate ways to find the density of irregular shaped objects. In this physics lesson, students calculate density using its mass and volume. They explain why some objects float or sink in water.
Curated OER
Target Earth
Space scientists use water displacement to determine the mass of a cubic centimeter mini meteorite, and then use it as a small-scale representative of an asteroid. They figure out the orbital velocity of an asteroid. Then they use a...
Teach Engineering
Determining Densities
Don't be dense—use a robust resource. The second installment of a five-part Floaters and Sinkers unit has learners determine the densities of several objects. As part of the activity, they learn the displacement method for finding...
Teach Engineering
Floaters and Sinkers
Whatever floats your boat. Young engineers learn about density by measuring the masses and volumes of boxes filled with different materials. Using their knowledge of densities, they hypothesize whether objects with given densities will...
Curated OER
Measuring Body Fat
In this body fat measurement worksheet, students will conduct an experiment to determine how the "under-water weighing" technique of measuring body fat works. Once the experiment is complete, students will complete 1 short answer question.
NorthEast Ohio Geoscience Education Outreach
Introduction to Density
Seventh grade scientists weigh in on the concept of density. In a nutshell, they participate in the following activities:
Measurement of the mass and volume of fruit in order to compare densities
Measurement of the mass of oil and water...
Curated OER
Ships 2: What Floats Your Boat?
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.
NASA
The NBL Pool
That is a lot of water. Class groups explore the size of the NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Pool and calculate the volume of water needed to fill it. They then compare that volume to the amount of water needed to fill a pool the size of a...