Curated OER
Exploring Density with Salt and Fresh Water: Part 5
This particular lesson was written by the National Earth Science Teachers Association, but density is a concept that you can teach at the beginning of the school year in your life, physical, or earth science classes. It would be fun to...
Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 1
Is your current lesson plan for salt and freshwater literacy leaving you high and dry? If so, dive into part one of a seven-part series that explores the physical features of Earth's salt and freshwater sources. Junior hydrologists...
American Chemical Society
Density: Sink and Float for Liquids
We don't think of liquids as floating typically, but a quick look at any oil spill tells a different story. Lesson explores various densities of liquids and why this fact is important. After observing the density variation, scholars...
Curated OER
Tracking the Salt Front
Using the Hudson River as the focus, learners discuss the difference between salt water and fresh water environments, analyze maps and graphs, and complete addition and subtraction problems. This lesson comes with a wealth of...
Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 7
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take your class on an underwater adventure. The final installment in a seven-part series involving salt and freshwater bodies takes junior oceanographers below the surface in...
Curated OER
Investigating the Effect of Salinity on the Density and Stability of Water
Water with varying amounts of dissolved salt are dyed and then used to compare densities. The objective is to discover the effect of salinity, and therefore density, on ocean water on the stability of the ocean. Many branches of science...
University of Georgia
Heating and Cooling of Land Forms
Compare heating and cooling rates of different land forms. A lab activity has groups collect data on the rate of heating and cooling of soil, grass, saltwater, fresh water, and sand. An analysis of the rates shows how the different land...
Curated OER
So Much Water, So Little to Drink
Students explore salt and fresh water. In this water lesson, students investigate the amount of Earth covered by water. Students compare the amounts of salt water to fresh water. Students create a visual representation to aid comprehension.
Curated OER
Boat Safety and Water Sports - Lesson 4 - Dangerous Sea Creatures
Lesson 4 is part of a 22 lesson unit on boat safety and water sports. This lesson is about dangerous sea creatures, mainly in the ocean. There is a link to find pictures of the creatures discussed. It is suggested to click on the...
Curated OER
Osmosis and Dialysis
How do you engage pupils in a discussion about osmosis without leaving them overwhelmed? By providing them with the tools to perform an exciting experiment, and they will see osmosis in action! Young chemists and biologists use...
Curated OER
Water Layering and Circulation
Students examine relationships and interactions between different types of water. They experiment with colored water of different temperature and salinity and discuss how the results relate to real ocean currents.
Curated OER
Water Sources in Cape Verde and West Africa
Young explorers study the scarcity and importance of a continuous supply of fresh water in Cape Verde. They research the five main ways that fresh water is obtained in these countries. Each research group prepares a presentation, and...
Curated OER
Salt Water Wedge
Students conduct an experiment to observe the properties of both salt and freshwater. They explain why freshwater will stay at the surface while salt water will travel up a river bottom because of density. Students also research the...
Curated OER
Saltwater Science
Students conduct an experiment that shows them how salt water allows things to float. In this salt water lesson plan, students mix ingredients together to create salt water and observe how it makes the oceans dense. They then interpret...
Curated OER
Freshwater/Saltwater "Eggs-Periment"
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...
Michigan Sea Grant
Water Quantity
It may be tricky for a young mind to conceptualize that less than 1% of all water on earth is useable for humans to drink. Simulating the amount of fresh water available on earth by removing measured amounts of water from a five-gallon...
Curated OER
Sea Water Mixing and Sinking
Students investigate the role of temperature and salinity in determining seawater density. They use a Temperature-Salinity Diagram to examine the effects of mixing on density.
Curated OER
Earth's Water: A drop in your cup
Learners complete activities where they observe the amount of freshwater in the world as a fraction of the actual amount of water using different mixtures. In this freshwater lesson plan, students brainstorm on how to preserve...
Curated OER
Oceans of Fun
Here is a great hands-on activity that should lead to a greater understanding of salt water, why the ocean is salty, and how ocean waves are formed. This terrific, old-school lesson has clearly described activities, and all of the...
Curated OER
Properties of Fresh and Sea Water
Middle schoolers work with three stations to demonstrate the properties of water. They explore water's boiling point, freezing point, and its ability to store heat.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Water from the Well
How much water does it take to brush your teeth? How about to wash your clothes? Perform an experiment that measures water usage in everyday tasks and compares them to the days before indoor plumbing, specifically the California...
Curated OER
Conductivity - Pass the Buoy and Pepper, Please
Buoys around our coastlines are equipped with sensory devices which monitor temperature, salinity, and water pressure. Emerging earth scientists examine some of this data and relate salinity to the electrical conductivity of the surface...
Curated OER
Biomes: Freshwater & Seawater
Young scholars observe organisms behavior and adaptations. In this biomes lesson students conduct fieldwork to determine water quality and answer questions about the differences between different habitats.
Curated OER
Snapshot Day Definitions and Activities
Here is a document full of teaching notes on water quality and bodies of water that you can use in your ecology curriculum. It has information specific to the Hudson River area, but can easily be adapted to any local body of water....