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...

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...

Students design and build full-size boats made out of two-liter plastic bottles, chicken wire, and plywood. Then they race the boats, with the boat's designers "manning the hull", in the school's swimming pool.

Fourth graders explore the concept of mass and buoyancy. After building boats out of several materials, they predict whether each boat floats if certain objects are added. Students test their predictions and draw conclusions from their...

Students design and construct a boat out of aluminum foil and a few other simple materials. The boats then be tested by floating them in water, then adding mass until they sink. They explore the various shapes of boat construction.

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...

How many pennies can an aluminum foil boat hold? That is the challenge in a collaborative activity designed to explore the concept of buoyancy. Learners use aluminum foil to build makeshift boats and test the weight they hold before...

Students create a model boat. In this art lesson plan, students identify what makes a boat float and use milk cartons to create their own boat.

Students construct aluminum foil boats that float while holding the greatest number of pennies. They investigate the concept of water displacement, record their results, and watch a Bill Nye video on buoyancy.

Discover the connection between redox reactions and fuel cells. Collaborative groups build a Hoffmann Apparatus that demonstrates the electrolysis of water and then convert their models into a fuel cell. They use their fuel cells to...

Working in small groups learners develop three alternative boat designs. They discuss the rationale for the type of hull, propeller, location of ballast, and type of building material used in their design. They build their boat.

Bridge the gaps in your knowledge of bridges. Individuals learn about bridge types by building models. The activity introduces beam bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, and suspension bridges.

What better way to learn how to use a microscope than building your own? A lab investigation has scholars use lenses from magnifying glasses and sheets of cork to design their own compound microscopes. They calculate focal length...

  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.   

Students design and contrast a boat made out of aluminum foil. They test the boats to see which boat floats the best using three different solutions and steel ball weights. Students work on their own to construct a boat of their own...

Swimmers know to float by turning their bodies horizontally rather than vertically, but why does that make a difference? In an interesting activity, scholars explore buoyancy and the properties of air and water. They test cups to see...

Don't let the resource blow you away. Scholars build airboats from basic materials and collect data on how far the boats move. They refine their designs taking Newton's laws into consideration.

Fourth graders, in groups, experiment with density and the displacement of water by creating and designing their own boats and seeing which boat holds the most centimeter cubes without sinking..

After reading about marine engineers and naval architects, it's all hands on deck to design and test a speed boat. This lesson is designed for the Next Generation Science Standards in engineering and can be a centerpiece for a STEM...

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...

Students examine what naval architects and marine engineers do.  In this engineering lesson students work in teams and design a boat with a sail structure. 

Students build a boat. They explore and examine the types of materials used in boat building. In groups, pupils copy their plans onto the plywood and begin to build the boat. During this fifteen day program, students follow instructions...

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.

Once your physical science stars have a grasp of the different forms of energy, use this resource to get them putting the energy to work. Small groups choose from seven different project options and work together to build an energy...