This lesson will explore the phenomenon of corrosion as students learn about sunken ships in the Great Lakes and the glass-bottomed tour boats that take people to explore them. In doing so, they’ll delve into such science topics related to exploring shipwrecks as gas laws and more.
- Know what corrosion is and why it happens
- Understand how gas pressure changes with depth underwater affecting scuba divers
- Be able to model the chemical change process of corrosion
View the entire lesson plan including teacher background information, worksheets and more below or download for free here.
Activity 1:
This activity is a video discussion of a Great Lakes Now segment featuring a glass-bottomed boat tour in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, MI that explores the 200+ shipwrecks in the waters nearby. During the video they need to jot down four things they took away from the video using the 4 Notes Summary Protocol.
Watch a Great Lakes Now Segment
Activity 2:
In this activity, students will read about initiatives like Circular Cleveland that are promoting a circular economy to create jobs, reduce waste, and improve the environment by advocating for policies that encourage sustainable practices like reuse, recycling, and remanufacturing at the state and national level.
Activity 3:
The purpose of this activity is to explore the process of corrosion by examining the effects of different liquids on various metal objects.
Activity 4:
The purpose of this activity is for students to create a Cartesian diver using a water bottle and a ketchup packet to understand the relationship between pressure, volume, and density. They will observe how changes in pressure affect the movement of the “diver” (condiment packet) inside the water bottle.
Activity 5:
The purpose of this multi-day experiment is to investigate the effects of different storage methods on the rate of food spoilage, simulating real-world scenarios to understand how proper storage can reduce food waste.
Crush a Soft Drink Can using Pressure
Learn all about Episode 2307: eFoiling and Unpaid Bills on this month’s landing page.
If you use this lesson or any of its activities with your learners, we’d love to hear about it! Contact us with any feedback or questions at: GreatLakesNow@DPTV.org
