Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion, and...
Curated OER
Forces and Motion
Fourth graders study straight line motion and the forces that affect motion, including the terms force, gravity, and speed. They determine that gravity, weight, and other forces have an effect on speed and motion.
Curated OER
Rules of Force and Motion
Students view a video and complete experiments with force and motion. In this force and motion activity, students examine small pieces and how they affect the motion of a toy car. Students also experiment with sand paper, bubble wrap...
Curated OER
Projectile Motion
Twelfth graders experiment with a projectile that is launched horizontally after a demonstration and small discussion about two pennies, one dropping from a table top and the other being slide off the top and hitting the ground at about...
Curated OER
Newton's Laws of Motion
In this physics worksheet, learners examine Newton's Laws of Motion by completing 4 different mini labs and answering follow-up questions for each lab.
NASA
Newton Car
If a car gets heavier, it goes farther? By running an activity several times, teams experience Newton's Second Law of Motion. The teams vary the amount of weight they catapult off a wooden block car and record the distance the car...
Curated OER
The Inertial Balance
Students weigh objects using a triple beam balance. In this mass lesson, students use an inertial balance made with a metal rod to measure and graph vibrations of varying numbers of pennies in a bucket. References and discussion prompts...
Curated OER
The Transfer of Energy 2: Electrochemistry
Middle schoolers study about electrochemistry by increasing their understanding of electron transfer and its role in chemical changes. They explain that energy appears in different forms. Heat energy is in the disorderly motion of...
Curated OER
It's All in the Wrist
Students conduct experiments with balloons, pennies, marbles and cups to help them understand the concept of centrifugal force or Newton's Law of Motion.
Curated OER
Can You Make A Penny Float?
Learners explore the concept of density by trying to make a penny and other materials float.
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.
Cornell University
Physics of Flight
Up, up, and away! Take your classes on a physics adventure. Learners explore the concepts important for flight. They experiment with the Bernoulli Principle while learning the forces that act on airplanes in flight.
Curated OER
Newton's Challenge
In this Newton's challenge worksheet, students demonstrate their understanding of Newton's laws by performing several mini labs. Students answer questions that ask to describe the movement of each demonstration using Newton's laws.
Curated OER
Forces and Newton's Three Laws
Students watch demonstrations of forces and Newton's Three Laws. In this forces instructional activity, students watch four demonstrations and complete the associated worksheets associated with Newton's Laws. There is a PowerPoint that...
Curated OER
A Mysterious Roll-Back Can
Students explore Newton and his Second Law by observing a demonstration involving a can that rolls away, then rolls back to where it started. They construct their own Come Back Can and describe how the cans work.
Columbus City Schools
May the Force Be with You
You won't have to force your classes to complete these engaging activities! Through exploration, young scientists learn that force has both magnitude and direction. They draw force diagrams, investigate force models, and complete a...
NASA
Pop! Rockets
Off they go — launching rockets is fun. The lesson plan contains templates to build paper rockets that can be launched from a PVC pipe launcher. Individuals or groups build the rockets and determine the shapes for their fins. Included...
Space Race
Sensory Detectives
Test your learners' sensory awareness with three hands-on activities that ask pupils to use their other senses to identify and describe everyday objects hidden from sight.
Teach Engineering
Making Moon Craters
Create an egg-citing study of energy. Pupils investigate the effect of height and mass on the overall amount of energy of a falling object. The fourth segment in a six-part series on energy uses a weighted egg falling from different...
Curated OER
Lifting the Load
Third graders analyze the pulley and demonstrate how forces cause changes in speed and direction of objects.
Curated OER
Tubularastic Roller Coaster
Students observe the effect of gravity on objects. They use tubing and other materials to simulate a roller caster. Afterward, they create a journal to write their observations and summaries.
Curated OER
Mr. and Miss Big Feet
Third graders experiment with gravitational force. In this physical science lesson, 3rd graders send matchbox cars off a ramp while changing the amount of weight attached to the car. Students record their data and discuss the results.
Curated OER
"States of Matter"
Students investigate the different states of matter by experimenting in class. In this matter lesson, students participate in a lab activity moving from one station to the next creating different formations of matter. Students view the...
Curated OER
Periodic Table of the Elements
Young scholars experiment with transition metals. In this transition metals lesson students find the common properties of transition metals and conduct an experiment using one of them. Young scholars then answer questions regarding...