Activity Overview
Students learn to solve a real-world problem involving salt water. Students will determine the amount of sea salt needed to turn an aquarium into a simulated salt-water environment. They also experiment with items and check their buoyancy in water with varying salt concentrations.
Before the Activity
See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
Print pages 16 - 22 from the attached PDF file for your class
Review the four steps of problem solving with the students
During the Activity
Distribute the pages to the class.
Follow the activity procedures:
Read the problem statement
Use the given information to create a plan
Create a chart showing how much salt will be required to make each 5-gallon fish tank as salty as the ocean, Mono Lake, and Great Salt Lake
Set up the three 5-gallon fish tanks with calculated amounts of salt to simulate saltiness of the ocean, Mono Lake and Great Salt Lake
Test different items to find which items float, stay buoyant, or sink in the three tanks and record the results
Compare the results and write an explanation for the results
Converting volumes
Use the calculator to solve word problems involving the interconversion of ounces to liters and gallons to liters
After the Activity
Review student results
As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
Re-teach concepts as necessary