Sink or Swim

Playing with balloons, water, oil, and bottles help put this lesson over the top! Participants use air-filled balloons in water tanks to experience gas compression. They also use oil-filled bottles to experiment with buoyancy. Included...

Students inspect physical science by conducting a floatation experiment. For this density lesson, students examine a group of items and dunk them in an aquarium full of water to see which sink and float. Students define vocabulary terms...

Will your next buoyancy lab rise to the occasion? Make a splash with action figure divers! Teams of young physicists explore the relationship between mass and buoyancy by adding weights or balloons to achieve a diver that neither sinks...

Learners examine buoyancy.  In this density instructional activity students form a hypothesis, collect data and draw a conclusion using the data. 

In this density learning exercise, learners choose the statement from column 1 that best matches the description in column 2. Students determine whether objects will float or sink based on their density. Learners apply Bernoulli's...

Students identify two broad groups of plankton: phytoplankton and zoo plankton. They describe the general body adaptations which characterize each group. They discuss and write about what it would be like to be carried around by the...

Students demonstrate how different materials produce sound better in air and some better in water.  In this experimental lesson students participate in an activity that tests different mediums wavelengths and amplitude of a sound.

Students explore how fish are able to move easily from one depth to another in water.  In this fish lesson students create their own balloon fish. 

Learners build plankton models and compete to see which sinks most slowly. They write, or orally present ,the adaptations they incorporated to slow the sinking rate of their organisms. Race results can be grounds for some prizes!

Why does a seastar sink, but a jellyfish float? Through a fun investigation, learners examine the concept of buoyancy using simple household items. The challenge: create neutral buoyancy for an action figure in water. With ample teacher...