Anchors Away
In the continuing (hypothetical) storyline of the Lost in the Amazon unit, students discover the relationship between an object's mass and the amount of space it takes up (its volume). As they create small boats using clay, they learn about the concept of displacement and how an object can float if it displaces enough water, and the concept of density and its relationship to mass and volume.
A sailboat floats on water due to displacementCopyright https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River_Sloop_Clearwater#/media/File:Sloop_Clearwater3_-_Photo_by_Anthony_Pepitone.jpg
This activity and its associated lesson provides an opportunity for student teams to complete the engineering design process employed by practicing engineers including constructing and testing their boat designs. See the related unit's Engineering Connection for further explanation.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Measure an object's mass and volume using the appropriate tool.
- Estimate, calculate and compare volume and surface area of given objects.
- Measure the properties of objects using tools such as rulers and balances.
- Observe, describe, measure and record changes in properties.