Lesson Planet
Search educational resources
  • Sign In Try It Free
  • AI Teacher Tools
    • Discover Resources Search reviewed educational resources by keyword, subject, grade, type, and more
    • Curriculum Manager (My Content) Manage saved and uploaded resources and folders To Access the Curriculum Manager Sign In or Join Now
    • Browse Resource Directory Browse educational resources by subject and topic
    • Curriculum Calendar Explore curriculum resources by date
    • Lesson Planning Articles Timely and inspiring teaching ideas that you can apply in your classroom
    • Our Story
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Testimonials
    • Contact Us
  • Pricing
  • School Access
    • Your school or district can sign up for Lesson Planet — with no cost to teachers
      Learn More
  • Sign In
  • Try It Free

Hi, what do you want to do?

Create a lesson plan
Create a lesson plan
Generate resources with 80+ AI teacher tools
Generate resources with 80+ AI teacher tools
Search 200,000 instructional videos
Search 200,000 instructional videos
Find a teaching resource
Find a teaching resource
Energy Skate Park: Basics InteractiveEnergy Skate Park: Basics Interactive
Publisher
PHET
Resource Details
Curator Rating
Educator Rating
(1)
Grade
6th - 12th
Subjects
Science
2 more...
Resource Type
Interactives
Audience
For Teacher Use
Duration
45 mins
Instructional Strategy
Simulation
Technology
Internet Access
Year
2017
Usage Permissions
Creative Commons
BY: 4.0
cc
Interactive

Energy Skate Park: Basics

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet
This Energy Skate Park: Basics interactive also includes:
  • Energy Skate Park: Basics
  • Join to access all included materials

Keep calm and half pipe. An exciting simulation teaches pupils about energy transfer from potential to kinetic and thermal as a skater moves through a half pipe or other track. After a brief introduction, scholars can build their own tracks with ramps and jumps in order to design a skate park using mechanical energy.

40 Views 49 Downloads

Concepts

the law of conservation of energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, thermal energy, energy, friction

Additional Tags

science

Instructional Ideas

  • Have scholars create a graph using the same track, and plot how changing the mass of the skater, or the friction on the track, changes the energy transfer rate

Classroom Considerations

  • Software Requirements include: Windows 7+ with Explorer 10+, Chrome, or Firefox, Mac OS 10.7+ with Safari 6.1, Chrome, or Firefox, iPad with latest Safari, or Chromebook with latest verson of Chrome
  • The intro section doesn't take into account thermal energy transfer and misrepresents what is going on, but the other two sections do include it

Pros

  • Provides an overview of the controls, how to simplify the model, and a video tutorial
  • Includes a large number of teacher-submitted lessons that rely on this simulation
  • Translates into 31 different languages

Cons

  • None

Common Core

RST.6-8.4 RST.9-10.4 RST.11-12.4

See similar resources:

Lesson Plan

Heat Transfer and Cooling

Oceanic Research Group
Astronauts train underwater to simulate the change in gravity. An out-of-this-world unit includes three hands-on activities, one teacher demonstration, and a discussion related to some of the challenges astronauts face. Scholars apply...
6th - 8th Science
CCSS: Adaptable
Activity

Investigation: Conservation of Energy

Texas State Energy Conservation Office
By rolling marbles down a six-foot length of track, physical scientists determine how much energy is lost to heat. It is recommended that you opt for the foam pipe insulation track because more friction slows the marble, allowing...
5th - 8th Science
CCSS: Adaptable
Lesson Plan

Solar Energy

Science Matters
The solar energy industry in the United States added more jobs in 2015 than the oil and gas extraction and pipeline industries combined. With the field growing so rapidly, it's essential to understand what solar energy is and how it...
6th Science
CCSS: Adaptable
Unit Plan

Energy Foundations

American Chemical Society
Only 10 percent of an incandescent bulb's energy is used to create light; the remaining 90 percent is heat. In the unit of activities, young chemists examine energy through hands-on activities, videos, discussions, and...
10th - 12th Science
CCSS: Adaptable
Instructional Video

Energy and Chemistry

Crash Course
Everything around you is related to chemistry and more specifically, the energy within a system. The video explores how energy, in its different forms, changes after conversion — given off as heat or absorbed as heat  in...
9 mins 9th - 12th Science
CCSS: Adaptable
Instructional Video

Why Aren't We Only Using Solar Power?

TED-Ed
Drive the clouds away from your day with this video. It thoroughly details how photovoltaics work and how clouds prevent us from relying solely on solar as an energy source. Unique knitted-object animation (bunnies, clouds, and all...
5 mins 6th - 12th Science
Lesson Plan

Household Energy Conservation and Efficiency

Teach Engineering
Are your household devices eating up a lot of energy? Pupils investigate household energy efficiency through a set of activities. They find ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce consumption. This is the 21st installment of a...
6th - 8th Math
CCSS: Designed
Interactive

Energy Forms and Changes

PHET
Is the ice cooling down the water or is the water melting the ice? Here is a simulation that explores thermal energy transfer with iron, brick, and water. It demonstrates the flow of energy and what happens when each material is either...
6th - 12th Science
CCSS: Adaptable
Interactive

Energy Skate Park

PHET
Apply the concepts of conservation of energy to a skater to introduce a fun way the concepts apply to real life. Scholars build tracks, ramps, and jumps then analyze the various types of energy and friction. For an added challenge,...
6th - 12th Science
CCSS: Adaptable
Lesson Plan

International Perspectives to Climate Change 2

Carnegie Mellon University
A couple PowerPoint presentations are used to stimulate discussion about the perspectives of different countries on the issue of energy consumption. Afterward, they play a game in which each team is assigned a country, considers its...
8th - 12th Science
Try It Free
© 1999-2026 Learning Explorer, Inc.
Teacher Lesson Plans, Worksheets and Resources

Sign up for the Lesson Planet Monthly Newsletter

Open Educational Resources (OER)

  • Health
  • Language Arts
  • Languages
  • Math
  • Physical Education
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Special Education
  • Visual and Performing Arts
View All Lesson Plans

Discover Resources

  • Our Review Process
  • How it Works
  • How to Search
  • Create a Collection

Manage Curriculum

  • Edit a Collection
  • Assign to Students
  • Manage My Content
Contact Us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Use