Curated OER
America's Pastime
Students relate Newton's Laws of Motion to the game of baseball. They compare and contrast the materials used in baseballs that could affect their performance. They also determine how friction can be increased or decreased in a ballpark.
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Building and Launching Rocket Kits
Students, in groups, build and decorate rocket kits and then launch them.
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Force and Motion
In this force and motion activity, middle schoolers read six paragraphs with numbered sentences about force and the laws of motion and answer one question.
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Newton's Third Law
Students use inquiry and observation to explore Newton's third law of motion: for every action there is a reaction. In this physics lesson, students rotate through six stations set up with materials and picture directions illustrating an...
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Newton's Laws of Motion
Students perform three activities that each demonstrate one of Newton's Laws of Motion. They use a ramp and toy car to demonstrate inertia, calculate acceleration due to gravity, then use a medicine ball and rolling chair to demonstrate...
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Rockets
Students are introduced to a project involving rockets. After chosing a rocket of their own, they assemble them in class and use an open field for launching them. They relate the path of their rocket to Newton's Second and Third Laws...
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Stellar Spectral Fingerprints
Students listen as the teacher introduces Newton's early discovery of the diffraction of light. They use multiple sources of light (fluorescent, incandescent, sunlight, etc) to bend the light. They first use a prism then a diffraction...
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Looking For Newton
The activity has sufficient background information for the teacher to implement the activity. Students are asked to summarize the three laws of motion. They also conduct classroom activities to role play the Laws of Newton.
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The Circle of Learning
Students review Newton's Third Law of Motion and participate in an experiment. After the experiment, they use their notes to write a scientific summary of what happened during the project. They present their project to the class and...
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Looking for Newton
Students discuss the rhyming pattern of various types of poetry. With a focus on limericks, they follow the specific rhyme scheme and create a limerick about Newton. They share their poem with the class and write another one related to...
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Graphing Inertia: An Oxymoron?
Eighth graders investigate Newton's Law of Inertia in order to create a context for the review of the use of different types of graphs. They practice gathering the data from an experiment and put it into the correct corresponding graph.
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Rocket Me into Space
Fourth graders study the concept of thrust and how it propels rockets into space. They discover why airplanes cannot travel into space while considering the engineering techniques use in designing rockets. They look at how space...
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Newton's Second Law: Mass-Acceleration Relationship with Dynamics Carts
Young scholars form their own hypothesis about the relationships between force, mass, and acceleration for their dynamics cart system. They collect data and express it in a graphical format to visualize the relationships.
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It's All in the Wrist
Students conduct experiments with balloons, pennies, marbles and cups to help them understand the concept of centrifugal force or Newton's Law of Motion.