Middle School Science Lessons

Objective: Students will explore how mass and volume are related to density and if an object will float or sink in a liquid.

Lesson Materials:

• PBS Link for Interactive Density Lab
• BRAND NEW Google Doc Handout (view only, make a copy) – this is a new guided handout that I created, I do not have a chance to use it with students and would appreciate any feedback to tweak it if needed. ☺️
• I broke up the website into different sections, this is a math heavy lesson and each section should be checked by a teacher before they continue to the next section.
• It allows students to analyze their data and compare and contrast the densities of each object and the relationship to whether it will float or sink.
• The starting volume in the tank is 25.5 mL, once an object is placed into the tank, a new reading will appear.
  • To get the volume of the object they will need to subtract the starting volume from the final volume. ex: 32.7 mL – 25.5 mL = 7.2 mL
• I suggest that the students collect all their data first for the section they are in, then do the density calculations in the last column.
  • Remind students that the MASS is divided by the VOLUME, they often flip this. I use D=♥️ as a reminder (the top of the heart is an m and the bottom is a v)
• Older Lessons:
  • Gizmo Lab – when we had a subscription, this is the handout I made to use with their float or sink lesson (Google Doc) this is also a very good activity but not free
  • Float or Sink – Interactive (pdf) with Laptop Activity Link (this free flash site is no longer available) I had used it for years and it was a great way to explore density