Subject/Grade: Grade 2 Science (Boats & Buoyancy) Lesson/Date: “Floaters vs.

Sinkers” 11/13/19

Stage 1: Desired Results

GLEs: Students will:
2-4: Demonstrate positive attitudes for the study of science and for the application of science in
responsible ways.
SLEs: Students will:
1. Describe, classify and order materials on the basis of their buoyancy.
Learning Students will:
Objectives 1. Determine the buoyancy of various objects
2. Identify the factors that influence an objects buoyancy

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Formative Completion of “Sinkers & Floaters” Summative N/A for this lesson
Assessment handout. Assessment

Stage 3: Learning Experience

Prior to Set up experiment – fill water tub Resources Introductory Letter
Lesson: to Bring: Worksheets
Buoyancy Experiment Objects
Water Tub
Time: Content/Description Notes/Assessments:

Introduction:
2 min There was a very special package delivered to the school today – should we Students will read a
see what’s inside? note from the
* Student’s will open a letter and package to find an experiment* package from “Ada
This is perfect because we are about to start a brand new science unit on Twist, Scientist”.
Boats and Buoyancy.

Defining Buoyancy: Students should

• Buoyancy is the ability of an object to float. We would say that understand what
objects that float on top of the water are buoyant, and those that sink buoyancy means but
to the bottom are not buoyant. So, what makes something float or are not expected to
sink? define it.

55 min Body:
By raising their hand, who thinks they can tell me some things float and
some things don’t? There’s a few reasons why something may float: the
material it’s made up of, its weight and size, and its shape!
Students should
Weight vs. Size: Whether or not something floats depends on its density! understand the
Everything in the world, your pencils, the desks, water and the air are made concept of density,
up of tiny molecules. Some things have more of these tiny molecules than but are not expected
others that are then squished really close together – these things are dense. to define it.
So if something is more dense than the water it’ll sink, if it’s less dense, it’ll
float.

For example, imagine we have two identical buckets, one is empty, and one
is full of sand. The bucket that is full of sand is more dense than the bucket
Subject/Grade: Grade 2 Science (Boats & Buoyancy) Lesson/Date: “Floaters vs. Sinkers” 11/13/19

that is empty, because it has more tiny particles inside. The same goes for a
bowling ball and a basketball. A bowling ball is made up of a bunch of tiny
really squished particles, so it’ll sink. The basketball is filled with air, so it
has less tiny particles that are more spread out, so it’ll float.

Shape: The shape of an object can determine whether or not something

sinks. If two things weigh the same amount, but one is flat and one is balled
up, the flat one will float!
Have a list of
Let’s compare a few objects to determine their density and whether they objects to compare.
would float or sink

*Student’s will help the teacher to create a T-Chart on the board of objects
that will float vs. objects that will sink.

I’m going to pass out a worksheet! Please make sure you put your name on Students will marks
it. First, we are going to look at the blue boxes – these are our hypotheses or hypotheses in pencil
what we think will happen when we drop the object in the water. If you crayon.
think the object will FLOAT I want you to put a “X” in the first box, if you
think it will SINK put a “X” in the second box. Make sure that each object
has a prediction.

Now that we have our predictions, were going to test them out. We’re going
to drop each of these objects in the water and we’ll see if they float or sink.
We’ll record what we see in the red boxes.

*Students may take turns dropping different objects into the bucket*

Closure:
3 min Did anything surprise you?
Now that our experiment is over, I want everyone to flip your pages over.
The first thing I would like you to do is to circle the factors that determine
whether an object may sink or float.

*The teacher will read through the worksheet with the students

The second thing I would like you to do is write down 2 thing we tested
today that were buoyant, and 2 that were not buoyant. You can look back at
the table if you need to. When you are done you can hand in your sheet to
me!

Stage 4: Reflection
1. How the students responded to the lesson as planned and taught:
Subject/Grade: Grade 2 Science (Boats & Buoyancy) Lesson/Date: “Floaters vs. Sinkers” 11/13/19

2. Specific strengths of the lesson plan and delivery:

3. Specific weaknesses in the lesson plan and delivery:

4. What must be addressed to improve this plan?

5. How I have grown from this teaching experience:

Subject/Grade: Grade 2 Science (Boats & Buoyancy) Lesson/Date: “Floaters vs. Sinkers” 11/13/19
Subject/Grade: Grade 2 Science (Boats & Buoyancy) Lesson/Date: “Floaters vs. Sinkers” 11/13/19