Anchorage School District
Roller Coaster Project
Emerging engineers work in teams to design pipe insulation roller coasters for marbles that meet specific parameters. They are required to label along the track the areas where kinetic and potential energy are highest and lowest, where...
Sharp School
Newton’s Laws of Motion Project
After a review of all three of Newton's laws, physical scientists complete a choice project. They can create a book in which they collect pictures where the laws of motion are depicted, produce a PowerPoint presentation, or produce a...
New Mexico State University
Lab 6: Kepler's Laws
A 15-page package thoroughly teaches your physics or astronomy learners about Kepler's three laws of planetary motion. Each one is stated and explained. Class members answer questions, solve problems, and participate in the classic...
Curated OER
Newton in Motion-Project
Students investigate Newton's Third Law of Motion. In this Newton's Third Law of Motion lesson, students explore the law in the real world. Students break down the definition for understanding and do an experiment using a balloon.
Exploratorium
Momentum Machine
If you have a rotating office chair in your classroom, you can have physics pupils participate in this simple, yet effective demonstration of angular momentum. One partner sits in the chair, arms outstretched, holding heavy weights. The...
NASA
Egg Drop Lander
You have to crack a few eggs to make a good engineer! Working in small groups, young scholars design, build, and test devices that protect an egg from breaking when dropped from a ladder.
Exploratorium
Marshmallow Puff Tube
Let physical science stars experience Newton's first law of motion by blowing marshmallows out of cardboard tubes! Using different lengths of tubing, they find that more force is needed to overcome increasing friction, and they have a...
DiscoverE
Rocket-Powered Ski Lift
If a ski lift had rockets, imagine how fast it would be! Scholars let their imaginations take flight as they build models for such a ski lift. Rather than using a rocket, though, they'll use a much safer balloon as the power source.
DiscoverE
Air-Powered Mini Rocket
Does the position of the clips make a difference? The activity provides directions to build and test a paper rocket. Pupils attach paper clips to the rocket in different configurations and measure the distance the rocket flies each time....
Teach Engineering
Exploring Acceleration with an Android
Small groups use rubber bands to accelerate an Android device along a track of books. They collect the acceleration data and analyze it in order to determine the device's velocity.
NASA
Glenn Research Center: Newton's Laws of Motion
NASA presents a concise explanation of Newton's three laws of motion. Click on the highlighted vocabulary to find more detailed and illustrated descriptions. Included is a link to a movie that shows how the laws of motion described the...
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.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Flying With Style
As students begin to understand the physics behind thrust, drag, and gravity and how these relate these to Newton's three laws of motion, groups assemble and launch the rockets that they designed in the associated lesson.
NASA
Nasa: The Space Place: Build a Newtonian Physics Machine
Great hands on way to explain Newton's Second Law of Motion. Choose from three different Newtonian physics machines to build and test Newton's Second Law.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Colliding Cars
Try to predict what will happen in three different bumper car collisions. For each collision, you'll be shown two possible outcomes.
Michigan Reach Out
Nasa: Soda Pop Can Hero Engine
Students explore all three parts of Newton's Laws of Motion by observing a spinning pop can.