Through the use of the Ocean Physics for Beginners Module, teachers will examine how scientific inquiry can support students in developing basic understandings of complex scientific concepts.  As a consequence, teachers will expose primary learners to some of water’s properties and the application of such properties to daily living.  Students will learn that the ocean’s saltiness is an example of water’s “Universal Solvent” property – in other words, water dissolves more substances than any other liquid.  Through a series of activities, students will also learn that the salt content of the ocean increases its buoyancy property.  Students will discover that floating on cool ocean water on a hot summer’s day or watching a sailboat glide out to sea is made possible through water’s characteristic of floatation, or its property of buoyancy.  Students will experience how changing the salt content to water will change the floating (buoyancy) or sinking (density) capacity of objects.  They will also explore why a boat floats with hundreds of objects on it, but if one object is thrown over the side of the boat, that object sinks - in other words, through inquiry based experiments, students should be able to answer “Why do boats float and elephants sink?”    Students will also learn, through observation and experiments, that water is made up of molecules which hold on to each other and consequently enable water striders and other insects to walk on the surface of the water without breaking its invisible skin.  This characteristic is known as surface tension.

The lessons included in the Ocean Physics for Beginners Module explore three properties or characteristics of water:  buoyancy and density, and surface tension.  The lessons are standards based to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, interactive, and are applicable to diverse learners.  Resources and supplementary activities are also included to broaden the scope of experimental activities.  The module introduces the study of water, makes students aware of and appreciative of their environment, and stimulates learning and imagination through the discovery of the amazing substance of our existence, water.