Curated OER
Motion, Forces, Energy and Electricity
What a wonderful way to explore motion and forces! Learners design a catapult, after watching a video and discussing types of catapults. This is a comprehensive and complete lesson with links to supplementary resources.
NASA
Soda Straw Rockets
Three, two, one, blast off to a better understanding of force and motion with this exciting science lesson! Beginning with a discussion about rockets and gravity, young scientists go on to complete a series of worksheets about net forces...
Curated OER
Playing With Science
Young scientists investigate the scientific concepts and principles that help make common toys such as hula hoops, yo-yos, slinkies, and silly putty work. As a class, they read "Backyard Rocket Science, Served Wet" to get a look behind...
Berkeley Engineering and Mentors
Egg Drop
How do different shapes affect the outcome associated with hard impact? All you need is an egg and some recycled materials to find out. Kids experiment to understand how airbags work to lessen the impact of two different types of...
NASA
Erosion and Landslides
A professional-quality PowerPoint, which includes links to footage of actual landslides in action, opens this moving lesson. Viewers learn what conditions lead to erosion and land giving way. They simulate landslides with a variety of...
Curated OER
Whirligig Lollapalooza
Using a cut-out template of a whirligig, emerging engineers experiment with flight behavior. After you teach them the concepts of force, air resistance, and lift, they discuss what variables on the whirligigs might be changed in order to...
Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 1
Is your current lesson plan for salt and freshwater literacy leaving you high and dry? If so, dive into part one of a seven-part series that explores the physical features of Earth's salt and freshwater sources. Junior hydrologists...
NASA
Hurricanes and Hot Towers with TRMM
Take cover because a wild presentation on hurricanes is about to make landfall in your classroom! An outstanding PowerPoint presentation is the centerpiece of this lesson. Not only does it provide information and photographs, but several...
Science Matters
Wattsville and Mercalli Booklet
There has been an earthquake! Can you listen to the description of damage given by callers in order to determine the epicenter? The 11th of 20 lessons has pupils read a script of one emergency caller. The class records the information on...
Curated OER
On The Go! Forces and Motion
Students create a car using physics. For this forces and motion lesson, students create a car and test which changes in design change the performance of the car. Students complete a graphic organizer with the different changes they see.
Curated OER
Forces
An interesting worksheet on force and inertia is here for your young scientists. The worksheet is meant to be used as a vehicle for oral interviews. There are three questions about force and seven questions regarding intertia. Very good!
Teach Engineering
May the Force Be With You: Thrust
Force the plane through the air. The lesson introduces the force on an airplane that makes it go forward. Pupils learn how Newton's laws of motion apply to flight in the eighth segment of a 22-part unit on flight.
Teach Engineering
May the Force Be with You: Weight
Too much material will weigh you down. The sixth segment in a series of 22 highlights how weight affects a plane. Pupils learn that engineers take the properties of materials, including weight, when designing something.
Science Matters
Landforms from Volcanoes
Three major types of volcanoes exist: cinder cone, composite/strata, and shield. The 18th lesson in a 20-part series covers the various landforms created from volcanoes. Scholars work in pairs to correctly identify the three types based...
Curated OER
Forces and Graphing
Middle schoolers analyze graphs to determine relationships between variables and rates of change. They determine the basic concepts about static reaction forces. They determine the slope and equation of a line.
Curated OER
Natural Forces
Students assess the damage natural forces have caused Maryland's geographic features. In this state geography and ecology lesson, students work in a group to research ways in which weathering, erosion, and deposition have affected the...
Cornell University
Bridge Building
Bridge the gaps in your knowledge of bridges. Individuals learn about bridge types by building models. The activity introduces beam bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, and suspension bridges.
Kenan Fellows
The Newton Challenge
Make Newton proud. Scholars apply their understanding of forces and energy to an engineering design challenge. They learn about simple machines, create a presentation on Newton's laws, and develop a balloon-powered car.
Curated OER
Sounds Like Science-Kazoo
Students demonstrate how energy is used to make a sound. In this sound lesson, students construct a kazoo from a comb and identify how a sound is made by using force.
Curated OER
How Do Things Fall?
Students study forces by examining the force of gravitational attraction. They observe how objects fall and measure the force of gravitational attraction upon objects. Students discover that, since gravitational constants are different...
Curated OER
Atlatl Lessons for Grade 7
Seventh graders examine force and motion. In this seventh grade mathematics/science lesson, 7th graders collect and analyze data regarding the use of an atlatl to throw a spear. Students describe and analyze the motion which leads to the...
Curated OER
Building Bridges
Students, in groups, design and test a scale bridge. They use the Internet to research three basic bridge designs -- beam, arch, and suspension -- and the forces that act upon them.
Curated OER
Physics: Bounce - Projectile Motion and Collisions
Students conduct and observe experiments in Newtonian mechanics, kinematics, and projectile motion. They analyze the motion of a ball rolling off a table, falling, and then bouncing. Students answer a series of questions analyzing the...
Curated OER
Just a Little Bit of Effort: Exploring Levers
Young scholars build models of types of levers. In this simple machines lesson, students use dowels and modified wooden rulers to build different types of levers. They compete to create the most efficient lever in the class.