Have students create a time line tracing the history of submarines. They may need to use several lines to show how it developed in different countries. Encourage them to be creative in their presentations of the time line. They may wish to draw pictures or print images from the Internet to mark important historical points in the development of the submarine.
Have students create a model of a submarine. This can be from a kit, using clay or by folding heavy-stock paper. Alternatively, turn it into a science project and have students create a submarine that can both sink and float. Challenge them to figure out how that can be done. Students could also create a model of a submarine that shows a cross-section of the inside of a submarine. A simpler project would be for middle-school students to create a periscope using pipes and mirrors.
Compile a list of novels in which submarines figure prominently. These can include young-adult novels such as Ted Bell's "Nick of Time," the classic Jules Vernes' "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" or adult novels such as Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" or Lothar-Guenther Buchheim's "Das Boot." You could also include stories such as "On the Beach" in which submarines play an important, but smaller role. Have students select and read a book from that list and then create a map showing where the submarines in that novel traveled.
Challenge students to design the next generation of submarines. Have them make a list of things that they would want it to do and then draw a picture of what it would look like. Encourage them to imagine new technologies and explain ways it could be incorporated into submarine technology. Discuss what uses submarines might have outside of the military.
Have students write their own stories that take place on a submarine or on a submarine base. Tell them that the stories must include accurate descriptions of submarines. While the stories are fictional, they must faithfully describe how submarines work, and the technology should match the times in which they set the stories.