Seventh graders are given the opportunity to use model-building as a way to help comprehend the forces and phenomena at work in the world around them. They use both successful and unsuccessful models to make inferences, refine...

Students discover the Archimedes principle through a buoyancy experiment. They measure the water displacement of a lump a clay which is denser than water then reshape the clay into a bowl which floats but displaces more water.

Students look at clippings of boats. They are able to define the following terms displacement, and density. Students construct a clay boat. After they complete their clay boat students answer questions about their clay boats.

Students work in small groups and design a ship out of balsa wood. They hypothesize what happens when the ship is placed in water then make predictions as to which ship stays afloat the longest with the greatest amount of weight added.

Students practice their skills of forming hypotheses by conducting various experiments.