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Medieval Catapults
Students design and build a working catapult or trebuchet to explore the concepts of force, motion, and distance.
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UFOs
Students, in groups, construct a catapult. Then they conduct a series of experiments by catapulting a marshmallow, using different lengths of spoons, across the room. They predict, measure, and record the measured distance on a worksheet.
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Ready, Set, Go!
Middle schoolers predict if the height of a ramp affect how far an object travels. They design and conduct an experiment to test their predictions. The results are recorded and a graph is created to show the relationship between ramp...
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Robot Gears
High schoolers build simple gear trains and record data to discover how to compute gear ratios. They investigate the definition of torque and how torque can be increased or decreased in a gear train.
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Inertia
Students conduct a simple inertia demonstration by spinning a hardboiled and raw egg. They push a wagon to demonstrate inertia. They explore Newton's first and second laws of motion.
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Simple Machines: Levers
Students discover the fundamentals and daily applications of simple machines. They practice basic engineering theory through their hands-on demonstrations of levers.
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Simple Machines: Levers
Students discover the fundamentals and daily applications of simple machines. They investigate basic engineering theory through their hands-on demonstrations of levers.
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Aircraft vs. Spacecraft
High schoolers investigate differences between aircraft and spacecraft, and the differences in propulsion systems. They build pinwheel airplanes and balloon rockets. An interactive activity quizzes students on thrust.
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Friction
Students explore friction as a force that slows moving objects, explain conclusions in terms of the roughness or smoothness of surfaces, relate results to predictions, and begin to know how to plan a fair test.
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NEWTON'S 3RD LAW
Young scholars examine the formal definition of Newton's 3rd law: "forces always originate in pairs, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction." --The informal, qualitative version: "Each action has an equal and opposite reaction."
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The Egg Drop
Students design and create a container that allows a raw egg to drop from the second floor of a building without breaking. They develop and compute an invoice for project expenses using spreadsheet software. Students role-play a proposal...
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Forces on an Airplane and Resulting Motion
Students read from a NASA Web-based textbook, then students demonstrate an understanding of the text by answering questions about the forces on an airplane and their resulting motions.
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Making Waves
Students predict and test how the effects of velocity and force of an object or air on water affect the waves created. They diagram a water park ride using their knowledge of these effects to create their desired outcomes.
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Newton's Laws
Beginning with definitions of mass and foce, this excellent set of slides summarizes Newton's Laws of motion and universal bravitaions. Components of each law are explained along with examples and questions to inspire discussion. This is...
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Gravity - What is It?
There is scant information on these slides: definitions of gravity and force, and the fact that objects fall at the same speed. Two slides give learners an activity to try to demonstrate aspects of gravity. Although the activities are...
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Motion
Starting off with a definition of motion and some examples, this slide show goes on to describe different categories of movement. Terminology connected to this general physics topic is explained on subsequent slides. It is a good summary...
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Pop Rocket - Trash to Treasure
First off, Newton's laws of motion aren't often taught at 2nd grade, so this lesson may be more appropriate for upper elementary learners. It begins with a discussion and demonstration of the laws of motion, and then has individuals...
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Pressure
In this physics activity, students use the clues at the bottom of the sheet to complete the crossword related to pressure. There are 15 clues to solve in the puzzle.
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Forces In Liquids
In this science worksheet, high schoolers apply themselves to the acquisition of new vocabulary while solving the crossword puzzle.
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Power in the Tubes
Eighth graders investigate the relationship between force, distance and time. In this physical science lesson students compute the work done, graph and find the relationship between work and power.
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Ar.... What Gives?
Students investigate the properties of air through inflated objects. In this physical science instructional activity, students examine gas as a state of matter. Student push on inflated objects and note the space the gas has taken up...
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Work
Use these slides to review the concepts involved with work. If the students have had practical experience and a basic understanding of physics, then these pages will help outline the basics and reinforce newer applications. There is one...
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Newton's Three Laws of Motion Lesson Plan
Students explore Newton's three laws of motion using a variety of activities. In this physics lesson, students calculate the average speed of a vehicle they constructed using distance and time information. They identify and draw the...