Curated OER
Laboratory - Density of a Material
Students conduct a lab (with water, guar gum and sodium borate) and carefully record physical and chemical properties and changes throughout the session, and experiment with weighing by difference.
Curated OER
Sink or Float
Second graders explore floating and sinking and make predictions about whether certain objects are likely to sink or float. They read the story Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen. Pupils loacate rhyming words and discuss the events of...
Center for Precollegiate Education and Training
Buoyancy Boats
What did the sea say to the boat? Nothing, it just waved. An inquiry-based lesson starts with a simple concept on the Archimedes Principle and challenges pupils to make something out of clay that floats. Then, they design an object out...
Curated OER
Microbes From a Hay Infusion
Students observe, over time, microbes such as amoebas, protozoa, rotifers and insect larva. They create a hay infusion culture using pond water then sample and record organisms found over a two week period.
Curated OER
Invasives and Macroinvertebrates
Students view macroinvertebrates, or discuss previous collection activity. They graph data on macroinvertebrates in the Hudson River. Students discuss the relationship between habitat, environmental changes, and invertebrate diversity or...
Curated OER
Give Me a Tall Ship
Sixth graders develop an understanding of floating, sinking, density, and buoyancy and apply it to the design of testing of ships.
Curated OER
Biomanipulation
Students explore the effects of aquatic trophic relationships on water transparency. They observe and explain the effects of reducing nutrient inputs on agal density on water transparency.
Curated OER
Examine Methods of Reporting Research Results
Students analyze a research report and the list of components needed in a research report and then identify those components based on a set of standards using the scientific method. They collect data which can be used for a graphical...
Curated OER
Adaptation and Diversity on Sheffield Island
Written for an exploration of shoreline ecosystems on Sheffield Island, this gives ecology or marine biology buffs a hands-on experience. Using GPS or visual triangulation techniques, they lay transect lines on a high and a low energy...
Curated OER
Ocean Layers
Students investigate how temperature and salinity causes ocean layering. In this ecology lesson, students observe and sketch their experimental result. They report their findings in class.
Curated OER
Earth's Atmosphere
For this Earth's atmosphere worksheet, students observe the effects of air pressure using an egg. They describe what happens to the egg and what makes it do what it does. Then they determine how to get the egg out of the bottle opening...
Curated OER
Behavior of Liquids and Gases
For this liquids and gases worksheet, students review 9 vocabulary terms associated with liquids and gases by completing a crossword puzzle.
Curated OER
Activity #16 Dancing Spagehetti
Learners experiment with floating the spaghetti, the gas functions like a life preserver. Pupils comprehend that a person is slightly more dense than water. They comprehend that a life preservers are made of low-density materials. The...
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
What Boat Designs Float the Best?
Fifth graders investigate buoyancy by conducting a science experiment. In this water properties lesson, 5th graders predict which of their different paper boat designs will float for the longest period. Students conduct the experiment...
Curated OER
Recycling of Plastics
Students separate plastics according to their densities, develop a method for separation and identify variables in an experiment and a fair test, changing only one variable at a time for a fair comparison. After testing, they develop a...
Curated OER
Thermo and Fluid Dynamics of a Homemade "Lava Lamp"
Learners 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
Creating the Ideal Cargo Boat
Students build boats out of clay to test the buoyancy of the boat in water. Students break into pairs and construct their boat to specific guide lines, then experiment with their boat in the water.
Curated OER
Leaf Stomata as Bioindicators of Environmental Change
Students perform an experiment to determine the stomaltal index on the upper and lower epidermis of two species of leaves. Stomatal densities change in response to changing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and to annual rainfall.
Curated OER
Leaf Stomata as Bioindicators of Environmental Change
Students, in this experiment, collect leaves from two species of trees and the stomatal index on the upper and lower epidermis of each leaf be determined.
Curated OER
Bending Light
Sixth graders read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, discuss refraction, identify example of it from novel, and perform classroom experiments demonstrating refraction and reflection.
Curated OER
It's a Gas - Natural Gas
Students use plastic bottles, water, and condiment packets to simulate how natural gas comes from decaying ocean plants and animals. In this natural gas lesson plan, students also fill out lab packets and answer exit questions.
Curated OER
The Great Heat Escape
Students observe a demonstration on the role of thermal conductivity in heat transfer. In this thermal conductivity instructional activity, students design and conduct an experiment to compare the thermal conductivity of four...
Curated OER
Sea and Ice Salinity
Students conduct an experiment. In this salinity lesson, students learn about sea ice, why it is important and how changing amounts can affect the sea. Students conduct an experiment to find out the effects of salinity on the formation...