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...
Other
Physics Quests
This resource links to many web-based activities which allow students to explore and examine physic principles and concepts on their own. Links to other good physics sites are also here.
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...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Plix Series: Newton's First and Second Laws
[Free Registration/Login Required] Read a force scenario, and then analyze the graphs provided to gain an understanding of inertia and force. After the activity, answer three challenge questions to check for understanding.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Ruff Ruffman Show: Tower Time
Explore structural science and try to stack a tall, stable tower in this building activity.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Far?
To learn how friction affects motion, students explore how different textures provide varying amounts of friction to objects moving across them. They build a tool to measure the amount of friction between a note card and various surfaces...
![Pbs Kids: Design Squad Challenge: Confetti Launcher (Pdf) [Pdf] Handout](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/39867-d984402dad72168ca09f2e3005c25b28.jpg?1661243856 "Pbs Kids: Design Squad Challenge: Confetti Launcher (Pdf) [Pdf] Handout")
PBS
Pbs Kids: Design Squad Challenge: Confetti Launcher (Pdf) [Pdf]
Hands-on challenge to invent a device that will launch a huge cloud of confetti. Provides full list of materials with ideas on how to design, build, test, and redesign it if necessary. Activity focuses on the engineering design process...
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.
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Spring and Mass Model
An interactive tool where students can explore how a spring behaves, and how changing the elasticity, mass, push/pull force, and friction affect its motion or period. As the spring moves, its motion is shown on a distance-time graph.
Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom: Inertia and Mass
This is part of a lesson on Newton's Laws of Motion that focuses on inertia and mass. It restates Newton's first law of motion. The lesson also gives a helpful visual description concerning friction.
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...
NASA
Nasa: Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics
Includes exhaustive information and a wealth of activities pertaining to aerodynamics and the physics of flight.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Spinning Blackboard
Explore the effects of drawing in a straight line within a rotating frame of reference. This activity requires a turntable. If this is unavailable, a cake turntable with a glued-on center post might work as well.
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.
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...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Action Reaction! Rocket
Students construct a rocket from a balloon propelled along a guide string. They use this model to learn about Newton's three laws of motion, examining the effect of different forces on the motion of the rocket.
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...