Mississippi Science ZOO.7.8
The Standard
- ZOO.7
- Students will understand the structure and function of phylum Chordata, classes Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of living things.
Enrichment: Use an engineering design process to design a “balloon fish” that has neutral buoyancy (i.e., does not sink or float). Report which materials were used to create the “fish,” and predict which materials should be added to make the “fish” sink and which materials would make the “fish” float. *
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Phylum Chordata, Classes Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Build a balloon fish that stays suspended in water without touching the surface or bottom. Record the materials they use, then predict what they could add to make it sink or float.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student adjusts the fish after each test until it stays midwater. They predict that adding paper clips will make it sink and adding foam will make it float, and explain why.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call a fish neutrally buoyant when it rests on the bottom or floats at the surface. Some think adding any material must make it sink, even if that material is foam.
How to Assess It
- Give students this prompt: A balloon fish hangs midwater. Predict what happens if you tape on two paper clips or a foam cube, and explain each prediction.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Fill a small balloon mostly with water, leave an air bubble, then tape on paper clips until it stays suspended midwater.
Ask: Why might taping a foam cube to the fish make it rise, even though the cube adds mass?
Have pairs sort paper clips, clay bits, and foam cubes by what each would do to a suspended balloon fish, then test.
Show a bony fish swim bladder diagram, then ask students to predict what happens when the bladder expands.
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