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 engage in this, the third in a three-part series on ships. The overall lesson series is designed to allow students to extend their understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design and testing...

Discover the meaning of Columbus Day and/or Thanksgiving by creating art from food. This activity focuses on making edible ships using easy to find food items. The class will investigate the journeys that were taken for either of these...

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

Reading literature is one of the best ways for kids to build a strong vocabulary while honing in on their comprehension skills. These vocabulary activities go along with the wonderful book, James and the Giant Peach. The children will...

Students extend their understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design and testing of ships. students discover that most ships are constructed very similarly-whether they are schooners or destroyers.

Build a scale model of a home built out of shipping containers. A hands-on activity has scholars watch a video about a home built from shipping containers and then design their own home. They build scale models of their designed homes...

The federal budget has never been so fun! Using an interactive game, high schoolers choose from a variety of policy options after identifying goals and try to balance these changes in policy with a federal budget. 

Students travel to a ship building plant to see how they are built. They enter into discussion and writing about the task of the building. This lesson is multiple intelligence in design and valuable because of the real life exposure.

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...

Students explore package engineering and investigate design.  For this shipping lesson students are given a flower and are to come up with a packaging that will allow the flower to get to its destination as fresh as possible. 

Wait til your class gets their hands on this! Aspiring engineers design a working robotic arm in the fifth and final installment in a series of ocean exploration lessons. Pupils learn about the use of underwater robots in ocean...

Hold the sea in the palm of your hand! Amateur oceanographers work together to create models of an ocean ecosystem in the sixth and final installment in a series. Raise awareness of global ocean health issues through guided research,...

Students examine the development of ship technology and maritime transportation. They define key vocabulary terms, read and discuss handouts, and construct a wooden ship model.

In this buildings learning exercise, students name the buildings that are described in the sentences. Students write 10 buildings total on this learning exercise.

Students investigate the trip Christopher Columbus took to the new world.  In this U.S. History lesson plan, students create a fictional ship from cardboard and construction paper simulating the ship Columbus used to get to the New...

Students explore simple physics concepts such as push/pull, friction, and speed. In this physics/physical education lesson, students work in co-operative groups to "build" a spaceship out of scooters and folded mats. Teams experiment...

Students experiment with buoyancy as a force. For this buoyancy lesson, students access an assigned website to examine the sailing vessels that came to the New World. They work as teams to build boats out of aluminum foil to see which...

What better way to start your day than with a box of oatmeal? Or what better way to start your geometry class than by calculating its volume? Eighth graders discover just how practical volume computation can be in business and in breakfast!

Learners define the purpose of several different types of boats. They develop a list of materials one would ideally use in the construction of a particular type of boat. Students work cooperatively in a group to decide what type of boat...

Young scholars review terms that relate to ships and shipping to be prepared for a trip to a ship building company. They demonstrate how many terms, and their meanings, the students remember from the presentation earlier in the week.

Seventh graders role play the roles of naval engineer apprentices. In groups, they work together to design a ship which cannot be damaged by freezing ice. They use the internet to research the weather and ocean conditions of the water...

Are planes the best shipping method? Using maps, pupils determine the fastest mode of transportation between two cities. Given a list of items to ship, groups decide the best shipping method to finish the 18th segment of a 22-part unit.

You've located buried treasure, now what? Explore how to use algebraic and geometric methods to determine where to place a recovery ship based on the location of the treasure.