Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Motion and Forces

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders define the terms: magnetism, poles, compass, magnetic field, lines of force, electromagnet. They name two properties shared by all magnets and describe how one magnet will affect another.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Newton's Laws with Kick Balls

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders participate in different activities that reinforce Newton's Laws. Activity begins with question/answer session about Newton's first and second laws. Students then try to bounce kick ball off of a wall to get it to given...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines/Technology/ Force

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders study and define force. They determine that the cause of movement is pushing or pulling which are the types of force used when operating simple machines. They experiment to determine which object requires the most amount of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders examine two different types of tires and the effects of different factors on the amount of force needed to overcome sliding friction such as when the vehicle tries to stop.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rolling Down Hill

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students perform an experiment, collect, and analyze data of a rolling marble down a ramp. They report results after they complete their experiment. Students are assessed in science and writing.
Lesson Plan
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More Power to You

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students construct a simple galvanometer in order to detect the presence of an electric current as well as determine the amount of the current. Activity is divided into two parts, first part as group work and second as individual.
Lesson Plan
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Changing Ramp Heights

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students conduct an experiment to determine how the change in ramp height affects the distances a ball is able to move a stationary cup. Data is collected from several trials and recorded and analyzed.
Lesson Plan
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Circular Motion

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students investigate circular motion in two different activities. In the first, students observe the path of a rolling marble on a paper plate. In the second, students play a game of catch using a tennis ball inside a plastic bag. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sand in Bottles

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders calculate the speed of bottles as they roll down a ramp with varying amounts of sand inside. Using their data, 8th graders estimate speed of three labeled bottles with different amounts of sand and compare those results...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hooke's Law

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students explore the relationship between the force applied to a spring and its stretch. They design and conduct an experiment to determine the stretch of spring with 15N of force without having an actual 15N mass.
Lesson Plan
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Speed and Collisions Administration Procedures

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate speed as an important variable regarding force of an impact. Students roll a car down a ramp and into a block of wood. The distance the car travels, the time until impact and the distance the block moves are...
Lesson Plan
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Exploring the MapleCopter

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Study explore the motion of maple seeds and design experiments to explain their spinning flight patterns. They make observations, explain ideas of motion, use models, analyze previous reports and experiments, identify relevant factors...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Keep It Hot

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students design and conduct an experiment to explore the insulating abilities of different materials for keeping a liquid in a paper cup warm. A small group of lab partners test four different materials: black paper, white paper,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Force & Motion

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders are introduced to the concepts of force and motion. In groups, they travel between stations to analyze the effect of force and motion on various objects. They research how various careers use these concepts as well.
Lesson Plan
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Using Video to Quantify a Reflex Response to a Stimulus

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the effects of a stimulus on a reflex by changing the strength or force at which the stimulus is applied. Students chart and record data of the lab using video tape.
Lesson Plan
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Multimedia to Learn Textbook Science

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students work in cooperative groups to produce multimedia presentations to explain how the movement of a yo-yo. Students research information about force and motion and relate it to the movement of the yo-yo.
Lesson Plan
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If You're Under Pressure, Blame It On The Air Force

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Young scholars complete an experiment in which they demonstrate that air exerts a force. In groups, they create their own siphon and define air pressure. They estimate the time it might take to siphon various amounts of water. They...
Lesson Plan
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Steep, Steeper, and Steepest

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders discuss ways to move large rocks. They relate this to building a rock garden, and the ways people might load boulders into a truck. Students discuss the use of a ramp vs. lifting the boulder straight up onto the bed of the...
Lesson Plan
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Forces and Movement

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students investigate the forces of pushing and pulling by participating in a whole group activity involving a toy car. Students then participate in a small group experiment involving a toy car, small weights and various materials....
Lesson Plan
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Pushes and Pulls

For Teachers K - 1st
Students discuss and investigate how various vehicles move. In a small groups, students then create a wheeled vehicle and find a way to make it move using various resources provided by the teacher.
Lesson Plan
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Tower Investigation and the Egg

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers build three types of towers, engineering them to hold an egg one foot high for 15 seconds. They discover that engineering designs are subject to constraints such as time, money and size specifications. In this activity...
Lesson Plan
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Hanging Around

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students explore weight by building a spring scale and observing how it responds to objects with different masses. Each team of students can make their own spring scale by following steps which are specifically outlined in the plan. As...
Lesson Plan
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How Far?

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students explore how different textures provide varying amounts of friction to objects moving across them. They build a tool to measure the amount of friction between a note card and various surfaces by measuring the distance that a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Causal Patterns in Air Pressure Phenomena Section 2

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students compare models depicting air pressure, They determine which model best conveys the omnidirectional and passive nature of air pressure