Virginia Department of Education
States and Forms of Energy
Energy is just energy, right? Explain various forms of energy to your young scientists by using an interactive experiment that contains common objects to demonstrate complex concepts. Pupils conduct experiments for radiant, thermal,...
Curated OER
Acceleration 2
In this acceleration worksheet, students experiment with varying amounts of mass to observe the effects on the force needed to move an object. Students apply Newton's Second Law of Motion to describe the relationship between mass and...
Curated OER
I've Got That Sinking Feeling
Students design a simple boat and predict how much weight it can carry. They should also discover why objects float or sink and how this can be determined experimentally. A great lesson on buoyancy!
Virginia Department of Education
Heat and Thermal Energy Transfer
How does radiation affect our daily lives? Answer that question and others with a lesson that discusses radiation and its use in thermal energy transfer through electromagnetic waves. Pupils investigate vaporization and...
Curated OER
Rockets and Payloads
Young scholars investigate Newton's Second Law of Motion as they predict the effect of a payload on the amount of energy needed to lift a rocket vertically. The constraints of the weight of the equipment carried to Mars is compared to...
Curated OER
Bathtub Physics - Density, Buoyancy and Flotation
Students study Archimedes' Principle, flotation and the reaction of buoyant forces and explain the relationship between density and flotation.
Curated OER
Main Sequence Stars: A System in Equilibrium?
Fourth graders study the equilibrium of internal forces in a main sequence star.
Virginia Department of Education
The Particle Theory of Matter
Demonstrate the particle theory of matter to high school scientists with an engaging experiment that allows them to visually see the results as substances change from one state to another. The class concludes with a discussion about how...
Virginia Department of Education
The Rate of Motion
How much time does it take to jump over three balloons? Pupils calculate the speed of tasks that require different motions. They determine motions for tasks such as walking, skipping, hopping, and jumping before creating a...
Curated OER
Newton's Law Vocabulary
In this Isaac Newton worksheet, students analyze ten words in a word box that pertain to Newton's Law. Students match these words to their definitions.
Curated OER
Fluid Friction
Students, using wood blocks and model boats, investigate how the shape of an object affects friction it encounters as it is drawn through a towing tank.
Curated OER
Mechanically Inclined
Eighth graders examine the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane through experimentation.
Curated OER
Gravity, Seasons, and Time
In this Earth activity, students read about Earth's gravity, the reason the Earth has seasons, and time zones. Then students complete 21 multiple choice, 2 true or false, and 1 short answer question.
Curated OER
How Things Fly
Students explain basic principles of aeronautics such as gravity and lift. In this How Things Fly activity, students visit the interactive, hands-on How Things Fly gallery at the Smithsonian. Students perform three experiments that...
eSchool Today
E School Today: All About Forces
Forces are everywhere. Learn what they are, the characteristics of forces, different kinds of forces, and factors that affect them.
SMART Technologies
Smart: May the Forces of Push and Pull Be With You!
Read, brainstorm, drag objects, erase to reveal answers, and move weights on a balance scale to learn about forces, mass, gravity, weight, and balance in this activity created by SMART.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Mechanics Mania
Through ten lessons and numerous activities, students explore the natural universal rules engineers and physicists use to understand how things move and stay still. Together, these rules are called "mechanics." The study of mechanics is...
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: The Center of Mass
This site from the Illinois Institute of Technology provides a lab activity in which students determine the location of the center of mass of an irregularly shaped object. Observations are related to the balancing point of the object....
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Submarine Race Experiment
Balance the force of gravity with the force of the expanding gasses created by mixing baking soda and vinegar. Create a soda bottle submarine that sinks to the bottom of the bathtub and then rises back to the surface.