The Buoyancy Challenge!

Lesson Plan Attachments

The Buoyance Challenge! Lesson Plan
Students will be introduced to the concepts of mass, volume, density and buoyancy. As students begin to understand the fundamental relationships of these four concepts, they will be asked to predict the density of a number of common objects and if they will float or sink in water. Students will complete the lesson by writing a report in Word that incorporates a spreadsheet and explains why certain objects float while other objects sink.

• "Handout: Calculating the Force of Gravity"
• "Worksheet: Manually Calculating the Force of Gravity" (Word)
• "Sample: Buoyancy Workbook" (Excel)
• "Template: Buoyancy Workbook" (Excel)
• "Handout: Measuring the Mass and Weight of Objects"
• "Worksheet: Measuring the Mass and Weight of Objects" (Word)
• "Handout: The Metric System"
• "Handout: Measuring the Volume of Liquids"
• "Worksheet: Manually Calculating Density" (Word)
• "Handout: Calculating Density"
• "Worksheet: Manually Calculating the Volume, Mass, and Density of Regularly Shaped Solid Objects" (Word)
• "Handout: Measuring and Calculating the Volume, Mass, and Density of Regularly Shaped Solid Objects"
• "Worksheet: Measuring and Calculating the Volume, Mass, and Density of Irregularly Shaped Solid Objects" (Word)
• "Handout: Measuring and Calculating the Volume, Mass, and Density of Irregularly Shaped Solid Objects"
• "Handout: Buoyancy"
• "Handout: Buoyancy Challenge"
• "Handout: Final Report"
• "Final Report Rubric"
• "Step Sheet: Creating a Data Table and Accompanying Charts in Excel"
• "Step Sheet: Creating a Formula in Excel"

On-line Resources

• NASA Central Operation of Resources for Educators
  You can access a wide range of resources on space travel and related concepts through this portal for educators.
• NASA Education Home Page
  This related NASA site provides numerous resources and links.
• Google
  Google is a very useful search engine. Use the Advanced Search field to enter search strings related to this lesson, e.g., "density of liquid". You will obtain a number of strong results that can be the basis of exploration and study.
• Bigchalk Library
  Features several pages on various objects and why they float or sink.

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