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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...
Teach Engineering
Buoyant Boats
Eureka! Using the clay boats made in the previous lesson, learners investigate the idea of buoyancy and water displacement to finish the last installment of five in a Floaters and Sinkers unit. Their observations during the activity...
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
Air and Water Pressure
Students examine buoyancy and fluid pressure. They conduct a series of fun experiments to discover the effects of pressure and explore how pressure differences can be used to float, lift, transport, or hold a material in place.
Curated OER
What Floats Your Boat?
Students are introduced to the concept of buoyancy. The Video used in this lesson demonstrates and explains the characteristics of objects that sink and float. It presents the concepts of displacement, weight, and buoyancy.
Curated OER
Thermo and Fluid Dynamics of a Homemade "Lava Lamp"
Young scholars construct their own lava lamp using simple substances. In this physics lesson, students explain how difference in density causes convection. They solve for forces and buoyancy using mathematical equations.
Curated OER
Freshwater/Saltwater "Eggs-Periment"
Students explore water properties by conducting a class experiment. In this buoyancy lesson, students utilize freshwater, saltwater, plastic cups, hard boiled eggs and food coloring to experiment with the floating capabilities of salt...
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...
Illinois Valley Community College
STEM Activities for Middle School Students
Use STEM activities within the class to provide connections to concepts. The resource includes activities that range from working with buoyancy to building rockets and launching them. Other activities involve the engineering design...
Teach Engineering
Clay Boats
Clay itself sinks, but clay boats float. Why? Young engineers build clay boats to learn about buoyancy. They test the weight the boats can hold using washers and then tweak their designs to make improvements, following the engineering...
Curated OER
Sink or Float
Students explore water properties by conducting a class experiment. In this buoyancy lesson, students make predictions as to whether or not specific objects will sink or float in water. Students conduct the experiment and record their...
Curated OER
Chemistry: The Case of the Sunken Ice Cube
Students examine a density demonstration involving ice cubes and beakers of water and alcohol. After observing how one ice cube floats in water and sinks in alcohol, they determine which mixture of the two would suspend the ice cube in...
Curated OER
Day Six: Floater What Ifs
Students observe earth science by examining results from an experiment. For this buoyancy lesson, students practice floating different items in two different liquids and identify why certain objects will float and others sink. Students...
Curated OER
Pumpkin Play
Have you ever examined a pumpkin and estimated the number of lines it has? For this math lesson, students count the actual number of lines, record and graph the results. They investigate the circumference, weight and buoyancy of the...
Curated OER
Aluminum Boats
Students study buoyancy with an in-class experiment. In this water properties instructional activity, students create a boat from aluminum foil and float it in a bucket of water. Students utilize coins to change the weight of...
Curated OER
Bathtub Physics - Density, Buoyancy and Flotation
Students study Archimedes' Principle, flotation and the reaction of buoyant forces and explain the relationship between density and flotation.
Curated OER
Buoyant Force
Students illustrate Archimedes' Principle of Buoyant Force. In this graphing activity, students will observe that the buoyant force on an object is equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces. Students will then create a graph showing...
Science Struck
Science Struck: How to Find Volume With Water Displacement Method
Tells the story of how Archimedes discovered the Archimedes Principle and his water displacement method for determining the volume and density of an object. Provides an explanation and several examples of how it is done.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Teaching Measurement: Literature and Manipulatives
The tradebook, Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen, is an excellent tool in teaching measurement. Students will engage in activities involving different types of measurement. In the story, five animal friends decide to take a boat ride....
Other
Drexel University: Archimedes
An extensive site dedicated to the life and legacy of the Greek mathematician Archimedes. Content includes a timeline of Archimedes' life, an overview of several of his inventions, and numerous anecdotes isolating various moments in his...