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eBook
Rice University

College Physics for AP® Courses

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
Take a look at an organized physics course. The 34-section electronic textbook covers material in AP® Physics 1 and 2. Teachers use the text to supplement lectures and have the class work through the labs. Each section contains multiple...
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Activity
DiscoverE

Build a Bobsled Racer

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Host a design challenge of Olympic proportion! Junior engineers build their own bobsleds using simple materials. The activity focuses on kinetic and potential energy and how the center of mass affects motion on a downhill track....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design a Bobsled

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students apply their knowledge of friction, drag, mass and gravity as they design, build, and test mini-bobsleds.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wright Again: 100 Years of Flight

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Aspiring aeronautical engineers demonstrate different forces as they construct and test paper airplanes. This lesson plan links you to a website that models the most effective paper airplane design, an animation describing the forces...
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

May the Force Be With You: Lift

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Get the class up and going with a lesson that discusses how airplane wings provide lift. Pupils use their knowledge of Bernoulli's Principle to develop an explanation of how it creates lift on airplane wings.
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Design a Flying Machine

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Wrap up the unit in one final design. Pairs use their knowledge of aviation to design new flying machines and record how their designs take into consideration the forces that act upon airplanes. The pupils determine whether their designs...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Teach Engineering

Balsa Glider Competition

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Change one variable and try again. Teams build basic balsa gliders and collect data on their flight distances and times. Through collaboration, the team decides on two modifications to make to the basic design and collect data for the...
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

What a Drag!

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Stop and drop what is in your hand! Pupils investigate how form effects drag in the 12th part of a 22-part unit on aviation. Groups create equally weighted objects and determine which one falls the fastest by collecting data.
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Teach Engineering

May the Force Be With You: Drag

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Do not let friction drag you down! The 11th segment in a series of 22 focuses on the fourth force acting upon an airplane—drag. Pupils learn about the effects and causes of drag.
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Activity
DiscoverE

Marble Run

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
It's time to slow your roll! Can your class create a track that allows a marble to roll as slowly as possible? Teams of science scholars collaborate to design, build, and test their tubes while learning about gravity and friction.
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Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Friction

For Students 6th - 8th
Friction and gravity are always at odds! Learners complete a set of activities to explore the relationship between friction and gravity. Groups make conclusions about the factors that affect the amount and type of friction between surfaces.
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Lesson Plan
Florida International University

Designing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV): Concepts in Lift, Drag, Thrust, Energy, Power, Mass, and Buoyancy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Engineer an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to study concepts of physics. Using household materials, collaborative groups design and build an AUV and then test Newton's Laws of Motion as they apply them in underwater environments...
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Unit Plan
Scholastic

Acceleration Nation Guide

For Students 5th - 7th
Discover the science of NASCAR! Young scholars rev up their learning as they explore aerodynamic principles. Hands-on activities help learners understand concepts of friction, kinetic energy, and potential energy.
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Everglades Airboat

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
How does an airboat move when there isn't a motor in the water? The simulation teaches the forces related to the thrust and drag on an airboat. Scholars vary the boat mass and thrust force in order to view graphs of the changing force...
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Pirate Ship

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Everything that happens is an interaction, from the wind blowing a sail to a cannon ball being thrust out of a cannon. A simulation shows the interactions involving a sail, air, ball, pirate, cannon, deck, ocean, and the Earth and the...
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Airplane

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
How does an airplane control its take off and descent? Scholars explore the forces acting on an airplane and control the angle of attack, wing profile, thrust, and airplane size. They learn about lift, drag, thrust, gravity, and the...
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Lesson Plan
LABScI

Viscosity: The Fluid Lab

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
There's more to fluids than meet the eye—they include gases, liquids, and polymers, too! Scholars complete three hands-on activities exploring different properties of fluids. They explore viscosity by measuring the resistance, or...
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Activity
1
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Teach Engineering

Adapatations for Bird Flight - Inspiration for Aeronautical Engineering

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
It's a bird, it's a ... device made to mimic birds. The eighth installment of a nine-part module has pupils read various articles to learn about bird flight. They consider the implications for aeronautical engineering.
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Lesson Plan
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NASA

Rocket Wind Tunnel

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Using a teacher-built wind tunnel constructed from a paper concrete tube form, a fan, and a balance, individuals determine the amount of drag their rocket design will experience in flight. Pupils make modifications to increase the...
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Lesson Plan
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NASA

Foam Rocket

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
When going for distance, does it make a difference at what angle you launch the rocket? Teams of three launch foam rockets, varying the launch angle and determining how far they flew. After conducting the series of flights three times,...
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Jets in Flight

For Teachers 9th - 12th
This Discovery Education activity provides the information needed to understand the basics of flight. Before taking off, young pilots learn the eight stages of the engineering design process. Small groups then design and build an...
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Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Playing with Parachutes

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
This lesson certainly will not be a drag! Little engineers design parachutes that make use of air resistance and, as a result, slow the descent of the payload as much as possible. It is an opportunity to teach about many motion concepts:...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Blow-and-Go Parachute

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students design a skydiver and parachute constraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. They experience how gravity pulls the skydiver toward the earth and how...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Computing the Net Force

For Students 4th - 6th
Adorable little stick figures push and pull a cart of blocks to explain the push and pull of forces. Future physicists then define force and identify it in different situations on the worksheet that follows. Concepts covered include...