Objective: Students will use critical thinking skills to formulate a hypothesis.
Resources:
Teacher: A deep bowl or wide-mouth jar, water, a wooden block, balance scale, masking tape.
For each group: A deep bowl or wide-mouth jar, water, orange.
1. Procedure: Divide the class into teams.
2. Hand out materials.
3. Demonstrate for the class that floating objects displace (push out) as much water as they weigh.
-Fill a large container with water halfway.
-Mark level of water with masking tape.
-Place wooden block in the water.
-Remove water from container and place in balance pan. Continue this until level of water is back to level mark.
-Remove block from water and place in balance pan opposite water.
-Water and black should balance.
4. Discuss the results.
5. Instruct students to place oranges in their containers that are filled halfway with water.
6. Have students remove peeling of orange and try floating it.
7. Have each team take the orange apart and try floating each section.
8. Teams should discuss and write about results.