Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Exploring Newton's Second Law
Students conduct an experiment that will reinforce their understanding of Newton's Second Law. Using simple objects, students control force, mass, and acceleration, and how each is related to each other.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Newton's First Law (Inertia)
This activity provides students an opportunity to investigate Newton's first law by observing inertia in a variety of experiments. Students will hypothesize on possible outcomes, write observations of what has happened, and apply...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Exploring Acceleration Through Vectors
The goal of this activity is to get learners to think about what is happening when velocity and acceleration vectors point in different directions. The pictures, sentences, and cars used allow the students to picture each situation in...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Best Amount of Water to Fly a Bottle Rocket
In this rocket experiment, students will investigate the question, "Which amount of water will cause the rocket to stay in the air the longest?" Students will compare how long the rocket was in the air with how much water was in the...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Marble Stop
In this two-part instructional activity, young scholars will discover that no matter what the shape of the track, the marble will rise to the same vertical height. They will begin to understand the concepts of gravity, motion, and force.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Puttin' It All Together
On the topic of energy related to motion, this summary lesson is intended to tie together the concepts of work, power, collisions, momentum and drag. A hands-on activity demonstrates this idea and reinforces learners' math skills in...
McREL International
Mc Rel: Whelmer #9 Learning Activity: Nickel Karate
An easy to do activity that investigates the basic theories of inertia. The activity is in lesson plan format that meets NSES standards.
McREL International
Mc Rel: Whelmer #12 Learning Activity: Bernoulli Cans
An easy to do activity that investigates Bernoulli's principle. The activity is presented in lesson plan format that meets NSES standards.
McREL International
Mc Rel: Whelmer #33 Learning Activity: Density Balloon
A simple activity that investigates the effect of heat on the volume of a gas. The activity is presented in lesson plan format that meets NSES standards.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Red Light, Green Light
Building upon their understanding of forces and Newton's laws of motion, students learn about the force of friction, specifically with respect to cars. They explore the friction between tires and the road to learn how it affects the...
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Physical Science: Gravity Gets You Down
In this lesson, students make predictions about falling objects of different sizes and masses to learn about gravity and air resistance. Includes audio vocabulary list and extension activities.
TryEngineering
Try Engineering: Give Me a Brake
Activity investigates the concept of how bicycle brakes use force and friction to stop or slow mechanical motion. Students work in teams to devise a simple braking system while suggesting improvements to current bicycle brake design.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating the Constancy of Gravity: Free Fall Using a Water Bottle
In this physics interactive lecture demonstration, students will predict what will happen if a plastic bottle, filled with water and having a hole near the bottom, is dropped. Will the bottle fall at the same rate as the water inside the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Flocculants: The First Step to Cleaner Water!
Learners experience firsthand one of the most common water treatment types in the industry today, flocculants. They learn how the amount of suspended solids in water is measured using the basic properties of matter and light. In...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Discovering Friction
With a simple demonstration activity, students are introduced to the concept of friction as a force that impedes motion when two surfaces are in contact. Then, in the Associated Activity (Sliding and Stuttering), they work in teams to...
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Centripetal Acceleration
In this activity, students observe the centripetal acceleration of an object in uniform circular motion. Relate the changes in velocity and radius to the centripetal acceleration.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Air Resistance
Young scholars use the Motion Detector to measure the effect of air resistance on falling objects. They determine how air resistance and mass affect the terminal velocity of a falling object and then choose a force model that fits the data.
TryEngineering
Try Engineering: Blast Off
Hands on activity where learners focus on aerospace engineering to investigate space flight from the viewpoint of an engineer. They design, build, and launch their rocket, then share their experiences with the class.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Launch Into Learning: Catapults!
Students learn about catapults, including the science and math concepts behind them, as they prepare for the associated activity in which they design, build and test their own catapults. They learn about force, accuracy, precision and...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Maximizing Kinetic Energy: An Investigation Using Marbles
Using marbles to construct a marble run, students will learn about projectile motion, kinetic energy, potential energy, final velocity, and forces.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Water Bottle Rockets Understanding Energy
For this activity, students will design and construct a water bottle rocket. Students will demonstrate understanding of a good experimental design and analysis of results.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Inertia
In this investigation, students will perform a simple ordering activity and demonstration to determine what inertia is and recognize how inertia affects objects. They will compare and contrast the masses of objects to predict the...
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Ramps All Around
Take the students outside on a walking field trip where they can notice ramps and slanted surfaces in the neighborhood.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Explore and Play: Ramps Around Us
Set up several ramps around the room and allow the students to explore and investigate how they work.