At this point in the unit, students have learned about Pascal's law, Archimedes' principle, Bernoulli's principle, and why above-ground storage tanks are of major concern in the Houston Ship Channel and other coastal areas. In this culminating activity, student groups act as engineering design teams to derive equations to determine the stability of specific above-ground storage tank scenarios with given tank specifications and liquid contents. With their floatation analyses completed and the stability determined, students analyze the tank stability in specific storm conditions. Then, teams are challenged to come up with improved storage tank designs to make them less vulnerable to uplift, displacement and buckling in storm conditions. Teams present their analyses and design ideas in short class presentations.

Students are provided with an introduction to above-ground storage tanks, specifically how and why they are used in the Houston Ship Channel. The introduction includes many photographic examples of petrochemical tank failures during major storms and describes the consequences in environmental pollution and costs to disrupted businesses and lives, as well as the lack of safety codes and provisions to better secure the tanks in coastal regions regularly visited by hurricanes. Students learn how the concepts of Archimedes' principle and Pascal's law act out in the form of the uplifting and buckling seen in the damaged and destroyed tanks, which sets the stage for the real-world engineering challenge presented in the associated activity to design new and/or improved storage tanks that can survive storm conditions.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to give fifth graders an overview of measuring capacity (metric units).

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to give fifth graders an overview of addition and subtraction in kilograms and grams.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to give fifth graders an overview of addition and subtraction of weights (metric units).

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about adding and subtracting money with pictures in columns.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about adding and subtracting money using words.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third graders about one step addition and subtraction - word problems.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about addition in kilograms.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about addition of compound unit capacities - word problems.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third graders about addition of sequential capacities - word problems.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about total distance without unit conversion (metric units).

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about adding and subtracting lengths (metric units).

Students are introduced to Pascal's law, Archimedes' principle and Bernoulli's principle. Fundamental definitions, equations, practice problems and engineering applications are supplied. A PowerPoint® presentation, practice problems and grading rubric are provided.

In this lesson, the students will discover the relationship between an object's mass and the amount of space it takes up (its volume). The students will also learn about the concepts of displacement and density.

Students follow the steps of the engineering design process as they design and construct balloons for aerial surveillance. After their first attempts to create balloons, they are given the associated Estimating Buoyancy lesson to learn about volume, buoyancy and density to help them iterate more successful balloon designs.Applying their newfound knowledge, the young engineers build and test balloons that fly carrying small flip cameras that capture aerial images of their school. Students use the aerial footage to draw maps and estimate areas.

Experiment with a helium balloon, a hot air balloon, or a rigid sphere filled with different gases. Discover what makes some balloons float and others sink.

Experiment with a helium balloon, a hot air balloon, or a rigid sphere filled with different gases. Discover what makes some balloons float and others sink.

The purpose of this task is to provide students with a multi-step problem involving volume and to give them a chance to discuss the difference between exact calculations and their meaning in a context.

The PhET project at the University of Colorado creates "fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena." This particular one deals with Beer's Law. "The thicker the glass, the darker the brew, the less the light that passes through." Make colorful concentrated and dilute solutions and explore how much light they absorb and transmit using a virtual spectrophotometer! The simulation is also paired with a teachers' guide and related resources from PhET. The simulation is also available in multiple languages.