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Pine Wood Derby Prompt
Eighth graders use Newton's Laws of Motion to assist a troop in making a winning car in the Pine Wood Derby.
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No Flaw With Newton’s 1st Law
Pupils explain what inertia is in their own words. In this physics lesson, students investigate how Newton's first law applies to their robot. They discuss real world examples of the 1st law.
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Making Objects Move
Students will make many discoveries about how and why objects move. They will explore and manipulate the motion of objects and the forces required to control that motion (pushing, pulling, throwing, dropping, rolling, and so on). This...
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Newton's Third Law
Students describe an everyday situation which demonstrates Newton's Third Law. They state Newton's Third Law;"Every action has an equal and opposite re-action, or every force has an equal and opposite force" in their own words. ...
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Exploring Pendulums
Students observe the movement of pendulums, they begin to understand the relationship between gravitational forces and the mass of objects, the changes in speed and direction of objects, and the distance between objects. They understand...
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Catapults!
Students work together to discover the relationship between the angle of catapults and the flight of different objects. They discover the heavier the object the more force is needed. They examine how engineers use this information to...
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The Spin Doctor Is In
Students are given the difintion of translational motion, which is the object in motion stays in motion. If you are in a car and the car stops, you keep moving. They then discuss rotational motion, which is a spinning object continues to...
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Height of Bounce
Eighth graders determine the relationship between the height of bounce of a ping-pong ball and the height from which it was dropped. They are assessed on the ability to record and interpret data, graph data, make predictions, and make...
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Pushy Kids in Physics
Students examine the concepts of balanced forces, unbalanced forces, and resulting net forces. They participate in a force and motion demonstration by pushing students in various directions, and calculating and identifying the resulting...
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Rockets and Payloads
Students investigate Newton's Second Law of Motion as they predict the effect of a payload on the amount of energy needed to lift a rocket vertically. The constraints of the weight of the equipment carried to Mars is compared to the...
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Pendulum
Sixth graders are instructed on how to create a pendulum and measure the periodicity of the pendulum, using four different combinations of string. They are asked which influences the time more- the length of the string or the weight at...
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Fantastic Friction!!!
Learners work in small groups to list at least 10 items that have movement or motion choosing one item from the list to use as a topic for the following questions: How does this item move? How can we slow down the movement? How can we...
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Picket Fence Free Fall
Students measure acceleration using a Picket Fence and a Photogate. In this physics lesson, students drop an object and measure the acceleration of the object free falling. They log their data using the TI.
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Proportionality: The X-Plane Generation
Students meet NASA researchers who describe the relationship between force, energy and motion. They discuss how NASA's experimental X-plane is being tested to make space travel more reliable and show how proportionality and ratios are...
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Velocity
Students determine the average speed of a toy car as it travels six different distances set up by Students. Three trials are done for each distance. The only requirements is that the longest distance must be at least three times longer...
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Newton's Theory of Universal Gravitation
Students explore how Newton tied together the gravity observed on Earth and the motion of the Moon. They apply an earlier lesson about centripetal forces.
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How Does a Satellite Stay in Orbit?
Students explore placing a satellite into orbit, then about forces needed to keep an object in orbit. They examine how satellites orbit in elliptical paths and about properties of ellipses. They learn Kepler's 3rd Law of Planetary Motion
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Discovering Friction
Students watch a demonstration that introduces them to the idea that friction is a force that impedes motion when two surfaces are in contact. They work in groups to experiment with frictional force using a coffee cup on which they alter...
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Marble Run
Students use marbles to conduct experiments on movement of objects and explore Newton's three laws of motion. In this motion lesson plan, students use marbles, tubing, foam, paper cups, and more.
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Balloon Jets
Students investigate how fuel amount affects the distance traveled by balloons. In this physics lesson, students collect data and create a pictograph. They interpret data and formulate a conclusion.
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Pitch, Yaw & Roll
Young scholars practice the concepts of pitch, yaw and roll. They practice pitch, yaw, roll in a make-believe airplane simulator. Students explore about air, forces, and movement of flight. They read for themselves about air; lift,...
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A Focus on Mechanical Friction
Young scholars explore mechanical friction. They perform experiments to observe the direction of mechanical motion and the difference between rolling and sliding friction. Data results on the experiments are recorded and students...
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Chemical and Physical Changes
Eighth graders investigate different gas behaviors. In this chemistry lesson, 8th graders describe how changing volume and temperature affect gas particles motion. They collect data and make a generalization about these variables'...
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Simple Machines and Mechanical Advantage
In this simple machines science learning exercise, learners read about simple machines, mechanical advantages, calculating mechanical advantage, output force versus input force, and distance effort versus distance of resistance. Then...