Using the Cartesian coordinate system, future flight experts plot points to determine whether or not an airplane will fly. With the four forces of weight, lift, drag, and thrust represented in different quadrants, your physics learners...

Eighth graders build and run mousetrap cars in order to measure distance, time, and mass for their cars. They use these measurements to calculate average speed and kinetic energy, then create a slide show to visually explain how the car...

Get things moving with this extensive collection of physical science resources. Covering the fundamentals of measurement, graphing, lab safety, and experimental design as well as the specific scientific concepts...

Students examine the concepts of balanced forces, unbalanced forces, and resulting net forces. They participate in a force and motion demonstration by pushing students in various directions, and calculating and identifying the resulting...

Young scholars design a roller coaster that allows a marble to run the course as fast as possible. Students create an experimental roller coaster taking into account the steepness of the hills and the sharpness of the turns. Young...

Eighth graders investigate the relationship between force, distance and time.  In this physical science instructional activity students compute the work done, graph and find the relationship between work and power. 

Students design a structure capabl;e of holding a textbook. They demonstrate that the weight of a textbook is offset by the normal force exerted on the book by the structure.

Students experiments with levers to determine if the amount of force needed to lift a load is always the same. In this physics lesson, students use Lab-Pro data collector as they experiment with the fulcrum placement to measure the work...

Even middle schoolers still enjoy experimenting with bubbles! They execute a series of experiments enabling them to distinguish between convex and concave surfaces, explore the properties of buoyancy, surface tension, and density,...

Students 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...

Twelfth graders perform dihybrid crosses and calculate phenotype and genotype ratios. For this series of science lessons, 12th graders explain the process of anodizing aluminum. They research on the benefits and harm caused by resonance...

Students predict if the height of a ramp affect how far an object travels. They design and conduct an experiment to test their predictions. The results are recorded and a graph is created to show the relationship between ramp height and...

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...

Students determine the specific heat of unknown metals. based on their hypothesis and design proposal. They analyze the findings of the specific heat of the unknown metals. Students complete this by questions, hypothesis, rationale,...

Students work in teams conducting an experiment that demonstrates why the height of an inclined plane affects the speed at which an object travels. They record data on a chart and calculate speed to reveal the results of three trials at...

High schoolers spend time examining the concept of water pressure. In groups, they research the amount of air pressure that is felt at different levels above sea level. Using a calculator, they calculate the water pressure given...

Students build a pendulum type swinging apparatus and make specific and selective observations using what they know about scientific observations. They look for regularities of movement, patterns, and systemic changes over time.

Eighth graders create their own experiements using toy trucks, cars or balls to measure the time it takes two of them to travel 5 meters, as well as at each 1 meter interval. They make use computers to make a time/distance graph and...

Students investigate the relationship between force and momentum using motion detectors and sensors. In this physics instructional activity, students graph experimental results. They calculate impulse using the area under the graph.

Students are introduced to the concept of motion. In groups, they practice calculating the rate, time, and distance of various objects on a variety of surfaces. To end the instructional activity, they apply the same principles to those...

Students calculate the moment of inertia of a disc. In this physics lesson, students differentiate the two methods used in finding the inertia. They construct their own pendulum for the lab.

Students create a video of an object falling with a drag. In this physics lesson plan, students calculate drag coefficient using data from Logger Pro. They calculate velocity and acceleration of the object.

Students calculate the speed of string racers. In this physics instructional activity, students measure the time in several trials and get the average. They graph their results using a spreadsheet.

Middle-schoolers still enjoy playing with bubbles! In this series of eight laboratory activities, science learners explore convex and concave surfaces, angles, gas laws, buoyancy, density and more!