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In Balancing and Weighing, students explore balance and discover that it is affected by three variables—the mass of an object, the length of the lever arm, and the position of the fulcrum.

In Balancing and Weighing, students explore balance and discover that it is affected by three variables-the mass of an object, the length of the lever arm, and the position of the fulcrum. Using an equal-arm balance to conduct their investigations, students learn to measure mass and are able to arrange objects in serial order according to their mass. Students discover that mass is not directly related to volume as they measure the mass of equal volumes of foods and find that the masses are not equal. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce students to the concept of density and illustrate how mass, volume, and density are related. Students practice measuring mass, making comparisons, and recording data throughout this unit. They represent their data visually in a number of different ways, including line plots, data tables, and bar graphs.