Match animals to their environments with a cute lab activity. Kids draw a line between each animal, such as a fish, a rabbit, and an ant, to the place where it lives. For hands-on practice, a science investigation instructs learners to...

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...

Students explore the concept of buoyancy through experimentation. Given materials of various weights and composition, they drop them in club soda and determine which substances sink or float. Students discuss their results in terms of...

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...

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 lesson of six from NOAA. Lab groups then...

Students use the Scientific Method steps to complete an experiment on various brands of soap to determine their floating capabilities. In this scientific method lesson, students write a hypothesis about the ability of various soap bars...

Tenth graders experiment with floating and sinking objects and heavy and light liquids, using correct terms, like density, to explain what happens.  In this Hindenburg lesson, 10th graders watch a demonstration called the invisible...

In this earth science worksheet, students read a poem about the wind and learn why the wind blows. After reading the poem and informative paragraphs that follow it, kids answer 2 questions regarding the information they read. Finally,...

In this buoyancy worksheet, students read about why objects float or sink. Students apply the Archimedes' Principle in a buoyancy lab. Students complete 1 graphic organizer.

Students investigate how to find the density of fluids and solids using math. Students also learn how to find the density of regular and irregular shaped objects.

Students explore the characteristics of water. In this water exploration lesson, students participate in various learning centers to inquire how water drains and how to increase the flow of water. Students use estimation and measurement...

Students study the different types of plastics and see which ones sink or remain buoyant.  In this ocean environmental lesson plan students complete several handouts, and view a film on PBS.

Students design, build, and test the specifications (water displacement and load line) for a model boat. The lesson focuses especially on integrating design principles with inquiry-based experimental skills.

Students end up learning the formula for density and calculate the densities of various materials, and predict if they sink or float.

Learners formulate a hypothesis using critical thinking skills. They use an orange to examine the displacement of water as the orange sinks or floats.

Different substances can have different densities, but can the same substance have different densities? Lesson explores the effect of temperature on the density of water. Extension idea connects the concept of how melting ice in lakes...

Students study the properties of the physical and natural world. In this properties of the physical and natural world lesson, preschool students work at discovery tables to see how simple machines work, what happens when items are put...

First graders discuss with the teacher if everything will float in water. They observe a marble and determine whether it will float making predictions as a class. After observing the results, they discover that liquids exert an upward...

In this density learning exercise, students read about density, volume and mass. They then use what they learned to answer the 8 questions on the page. The answers are on the last page.

Students investigate Archimedes' Principle and show how it relates to density. In this Archimedes' Principle lesson plan, students experiment with a beaker of water, a Styrofoam "boat" and a weight. They predict what will happen when the...

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...

Sixth graders develop an understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design of testing of ships.

Combine science and literature with this activity on buoyancy. Read There's an Ant in Anthony by Bernard Most to examine words containing the letters a, n, and t. Then introduce your class to the word "buoyant." Demonstrate how an...

Learners perform experiments to examine if debris float, or blow in the wind. The effects of these characteristics on the marine debris are then discussed. They determine how a material can influence what becomes marine debris.