TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Physics of Roller Coasters
Students explore the physics utilized by engineers in designing today's roller coasters, including potential and kinetic energy, friction, and gravity. First, students learn that all true roller coasters are completely driven by the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Pushing It Off a Cliff
Lesson 2 moves into the Research and Revise step and focuses on the conservation of energy solely between gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy. Students start out with a virtual laboratory, and then move into the notes and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: It's Tiggerific!
In Lesson 3, as part of the Research and Revise step, learners investigate potential energy held within springs (elastic potential energy). Class begins with a video of either spring shoes or bungee jumping. Students then move on into...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Move It!
Mechanical energy is the most easily understood form of energy for young scholars. When there is mechanical energy involved, something moves. Mechanical energy is a very important concept to understand. Engineers need to know what...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Exploring Energy Conservation With Rulers and Cars
In this lab, students will investigate the law of conservation of energy. The lab is designed as something of an open, hands-on assessment where students demonstrate how to maximize the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Drop and Pop Energy and Speed Exploration
Fourth graders use a toy to make observations that speed is related to the amount of energy in an object as well as work with gravitational and elastic potential energy.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Potential Energy: How Does It Work?
Describe the difference between energy in motion and at rest, and demonstrate energy's capacity for doing work. Draw a picture of water moving a turbine, and discuss other ways that a turbine might be made to move.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Is Energy?
With an introduction to the ideas of energy, students discuss specific types of energy and the practical sources of energy. Hands-on activities help them identify types of energy in their surroundings and enhance their understanding of...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Com Padre: Introduction to Work and Energy: The Hopper Popper Surprise
This activity will provide students with a qualitative understanding of the Work-Energy Theorem, especially on how the energy transferred depends on the distance over which the force is applied.
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: The Ultimate Roller Coaster Contest
Students design and build a three hill "tennis ball" roller coaster made of cardboard. During the design and building process, students explore the concepts of potential and kinetic energy and how they change as the roller coaster...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Collisions and Momentum: Bouncing Balls
As a continuation of the theme of potential and kinetic energy, this lesson introduces the concepts of momentum, elastic and inelastic collisions. Many sports and games, such as baseball and ping-pong, illustrate the ideas of momentum...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Using Your Marbles: Making Energy Work for You
This activity is based on the common experiment of running a marble down a ramp to do work on a cup. Students will be able to see the relationship between mass and energy of the marble and the ramp height.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Balloon Car
Students will design, build, and race balloon-powered cars in this fun lesson that teaches about engineering design and kinetic and potential energy.
The Tech Interactive
The Tech Museum of Innovation: Save the Hiker [Pdf]
Can you build a device that will deliver life-saving treatment to someone in a hazardous situation? During this instructional activity, young scholars will learn how energy is converted and transferred between objects. Working in groups...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Clean Energy: Hydropower
Hydropower generation is introduced to students as a common purpose and benefit of constructing dams. Through an introduction to kinetic and potential energy, students come to understand how a dam creates electricity. They also learn the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A River Ran Through It
Students learn how water is used to generate electricity. They investigate water's potential-to-kinetic energy transformation in hands-on activities about falling water and waterwheels. During the activities, they take measurements,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Work and Power: Waterwheel
Investigating a waterwheel illustrates to students the physical properties of energy. They learn that the concept of work, force acting over a distance, differs from power, which is defined as force acting over a distance over some...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Scientific American: It's a Kid's World: Body Sense
Investigate potential and kinetic energy by investigating the elasticity of a metal coil toy, the Slinky. Explore the development of muscle coordination in children and measure how practice improves performance of motor skills.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Engineering in Sports
Imagining themselves arriving at the Olympic gold medal soccer game in Beijing, students begin to think about how engineering is involved in sports. After a discussion of kinetic and potential energy, an associated hands-on activity...
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Potential Energy: How Is It Related to Kinetic Energy
After creating three different ramps with various heights, students will release toy cars from the tops of each ramp. Based on the elementary age level, students will collect data and analyze it.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Slow the Ball
For this experiment, students will design a track for a rolling ball to try to have the longest roll time possible. They will, in the process, apply their understanding of kinetic and potential energy, and acceleration and deceleration.
John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Balancing Mobiles
In this lesson plan, students will apply mathematical, science, and engineering concepts to experiment with balancing levers. They will learn to classify types of levers to design and build a simplified mobile. Students will explore...
NC State University
The Engineering Place: Roller Coasters [Pdf]
A lesson where learners construct a roller coaster and test it under different conditions to learn about force and motion.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Teaching Engineering Design With an Egg Drop
Learners build a device to protect an egg and prevent it from breaking when dropped.
Other popular searches
- Kinetic and Potential Energy
- Kinetic Potential Energy
- Kinetic vs. Potential Energy
- Kinetic vs Potential Energy
- Potential Kinetic Energy Leo
- Kinetic/potential Energy
- Kinetic & Potential Energy