Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Runaway Train: Investigating Speed With Photo Gates

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students conduct an experiment to determine the relationship between the speed of a wooden toy car at the bottom of an incline and the height at which it is released. They observe how the photogate-based speedometer instrument "clocks"...
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Energy of Motion

For Teachers 6th - 8th
By taking a look at the energy of motion all around us, students learn about the types of energy and their characteristics. They first learn about the two simplest forms of mechanical energy: kinetic and potential energy, as illustrated...
Interactive
Concord Consortium

Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: Atoms and Energy

For Students 9th - 10th
Online activity walks learner through exploration of kinetic and potential energy using animations. Through graphs, a quantitative connection is made between the movement and the energy involved. This information is then related to the...
Article
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: That's the Way the Ball Bounces

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explains the factors that determine whether and how much a ball bounces and includes activities to test "bounciness" for yourself!
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Rotational Kinetic Energy: Work and Energy Revisited

For Students 11th - 12th
By the end of this section, you will be able to derive the equation for rotational work, calculate rotational kinetic energy, and demonstrate the law of conservation of energy.
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Kinetic Theory: Atomic & Molecular Explanation of Pressure & Temp

For Students 11th - 12th
By the end of this section, you will be able to express the ideal gas law in terms of molecular mass and velocity; define thermal energy; calculate the kinetic energy of a gas molecule, given its temperature; describe the relationship...
Lesson Plan
The Wonder of Science

The Wonder of Science: 4 Ps3 1: Motion Energy

For Teachers 4th
Work samples, phenomena, assessment templates, and videos that directly address standard 4-PS3-1: motion energy.
Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Energy in a Roller Coaster Ride

For Students 9th - 10th
This interactive roller coaster ride produced for Teacher's Domain illustrates the relationship between potential and kinetic energy. As the coaster cars go up and down the hills and around the loop of the track, a pie chart shows...
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Kinetic Energy

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students explore the concept of energy as well as the idea of energy in motion, kinetic energy.
eBook
Other

Bc Open Textbooks: Energy and the Simple Harmonic Oscillator

For Students 11th - 12th
This resource examines how to determine the maximum speed of an oscillating system. It discusses how the concept of law of energy can be applied in solving these types of problems.
Graphic
American Chemical Society

Middle School Chemistry: Heating and Cooling a Liquid

For Students 9th - 10th
This simulation allows students to make observations about how particle motion changes as the overall temperature of a liquid changes.
Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Skate Park Energy

For Students 9th - 10th
Using computer simulation, students will explore the concept of conservation of energy at a skate park. After the completion of that exercise, students will move to a worksheet about the concepts with a roller coaster. Site includes...
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Heat

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] In this online lesson students will describe how the macroscopic properties of a thermodynamic system such as temperature, specific heat, and pressure are related to...
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Forms of Energy

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] In this online lesson students will investigate examples of kinetic and potential energy and their transformations.
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Temperature

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] In this interactive tutorial students will learn the physics definition of temperature, how temperature is measured and how to convert the units of temperature...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: How Long Will My Sleepy Yo Yo Sleep?

For Students 9th - 10th
Yo-yo's are a fun toy and there is nothing simpler than a string wrapped between two connected disks. But there's a lot of physics that makes a yo-yo work. In this science fair project, learn more about how and why a yo-yo works. You...
Lesson Plan
The Tech Interactive

The Tech Museum of Innovation: Save the Hiker [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Can you build a device that will deliver life-saving treatment to someone in a hazardous situation? During this lesson, students will learn how energy is converted and transferred between objects. Working in groups and through the...
Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Balloon Car

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students will design, build, and race balloon-powered cars in this fun lesson that teaches about engineering design and kinetic and potential energy.
Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Paper Roller Coasters: Kinetic and Potential Energy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this lesson, your students will learn about kinetic and potential energy as they build their own roller coasters from simple classroom materials.
Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Teaching Engineering Design With an Egg Drop

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students build a device to protect an egg and prevent it from breaking when dropped.
Unit Plan
Open Ed

Open Ed Sci: 8.1 Contact Forces

For Teachers 7th - 9th
In this unit, students explore a variety of phenomena to figure out, "Why do things sometimes get damaged when they hit each other?" Student questions about the factors that result in a shattered cell phone screen lead them to...
Unit Plan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Open Course Ware: Force and Potential Energy

For Students 9th - 10th
The activity investigates conservation of energy. Some topics explored are friction, kinetic energy, conservation of energy, and potential energy. The resource consists of video clips, lecture notes, practice problems, and exam...
Handout
City University of New York

Energy: Characteristics of Life

For Students 9th - 10th
An explanation of types of energy, how living things use energy and how they can convert energy forms. This is a good, basic, start to studying this characteristic of life.
Handout
Georgia State University

Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Relativistic Energy

For Students 9th - 10th
A mathematically understandable presentation of relativistic energy. Parts include Relativistic Energy, Rest Mass Energy, Conservation of Energy, Pair Production, Relativistic Kinetic Energy, and even Kinetic Energy. A couple of...