Curated OER
Projectile Motion
Young scholars observe projectile motion and calculate the speed of a baseball based on the time and distance traveled. They record the time, measure the distance, and draw the path of the ball's travel on a data table.
Curated OER
Projectile Motion
High schoolers determine the angle of launch that will give a projectile its greatest range. In this projectile motion lesson, students recognize that the motion of a projectile results from the combined horizontal and vertical...
Curated OER
Work and Energy
The first activity may not work for your class if you don't have access to an open area of 30 meters and two cars of different masses, but the remaining activities can be used in any physics course. They all involve the investigation of...
Curated OER
Law of Conservation of Momentum
A suggested sequence of events lays out five hands-on activities and four creative assessments on the conservation of momentum. Using spring scales and mail scales, junior physicists examine Newton's Third Law. After you have taught the...
Curated OER
Qualitative Examples of Conservation of Mechanical Energy
Instructions for series of six activites, a reading of scientific literature, and a choice of six assessments await you in this physics resource. Well-written plans guide you in guiding your pupils to experiment with levers, pulleys,...
Curated OER
Motions and Forces
Students explore motions, forces and magnetism. They investigate magnetism as a force and examine the construction of a magnet. Students examine the force that magnetism produces.
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
STEM: Lou-Vee Air Car
A comprehensive lesson plan on acceleration awaits your physicists and engineers! Two YouTube videos pique their interest, then sample F=ma problems are worked and graphed. The highlight of the lesson plan is the building of a Lou-Vee...
Curated OER
Circular Motion
High schoolers research physical science by completing worksheets. In this gravity lesson, students read assigned text regarding the rotation of Earth and the gravitational force caused by the speed of which it rotates. High schoolers...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Give Me a Brake
Learners explore the concept of how brakes can stop or slow mechanical motion. They examine the operation of a bicycle brake and use low cost materials to devise a simple braking system. Finally, they work as a team to suggest...
Curated OER
F = ma, Inertia, and Action-Reaction
Fourth graders apply concepts of Newton's Laws in scientific inquiries. Use this lesson to have your charges test and identify the characteristics of objects that make them easier or harder to push. After a teacher-led demonstration,...
Curated OER
Physics: Force and Motion
Students use the internet to discover the basic concepts in physics. They complete interactive simulations where variables can be changed. They answer comprehension questions to end the lesson.
Curated OER
Pendulum Clocks
Students use string, wire, weights, and a stopwatch to build pendulum clocks. In this pendulum clocks lesson plan, students use the pendulum clocks to investigate weather, climate, force, and motion.
Curated OER
Motion Concentration Game
Young scholars play a memory game that asks them to correctly match a vocabulary word about motion or force with a picture.
Curated OER
Pushes and Pulls
Learners examine different types of movement and causes that may affect those movements. In this online interactive forces and motion lesson, students use toy cars to observe push and pull and then make predictions and collect data...
Teach Engineering
Projectile Magic
What do the movies October Key and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone have in common? The fourth installment of a five-part module presents equations regarding projectile motion and how to rearrange them. Scholars view video clips...
Curated OER
Forces Applied to an Object
Fourth graders predict, observe, and compare what happens when a force is applied to an object. In this forces lesson, 4th graders complete a 'swinging hammer' activity to learn about forces and motion.
Curated OER
Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion
Ninth graders experiment with Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion. In this Third Law of Motion lesson, 9th graders develop an experiment that shows their understanding of this theorem. They work in small groups to read an article at a...
Curated OER
Friction in Our Lives
Students explore force and friction. In this force and friction lesson, students discover everyday examples of how friction helps and hinders things we do. Students create a ramp to test the speed of their car. Students use different...
Curated OER
Creeping Sheets of Ice
Students conduct scientific investigation in which they observe glacial
effects on landscape, develop and explain their own theories of how glaciers change land, and demonstrate understanding and explain basic motion and force principles.
Curated OER
Pendulum Motion
Students explore questions which cannot be handled with simple pendulums, and examine both the usefulness and the limitations of approximations in science. A Java applet created from a Stella model is included.
Curated OER
Circular Motion: Target Practice
Students demonstrate direction of velocity of an object in circular motion. They discuss the mathematical formula, and demonstrate the formula using a string, rubber stopper and a target.
Curated OER
Magnetic Force
Students are introduced to the attraction and repulsion of magnetic forces. In groups, they observe how the forces react with different materials and record their data. They develop their own conclusions about the poles of magnets and...
Curated OER
Simple Harmonic Motion
Students study harmonic motion and its oscillation. In this simple harmonic motion instructional activity students demonstrate a series of regular oscillations and explain the theory behind the experiment.
Cornell University
The Physics of Bridges
Stability is key when building a bridge. Scholars explore the forces acting upon bridges through an analysis of Newton's Laws and Hooke's Law. The activity asks individuals to apply their learning by building a bridge of their own.