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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Drop and Pop Energy and Speed Exploration

For Students 4th
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.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: What Is Energy?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
With an introduction to the ideas of energy, learners 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...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Com Padre: Introduction to Work and Energy: The Hopper Popper Surprise

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Potential Energy: How Does It Work?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Exploring Energy Conservation With Rulers and Cars

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Physics of Roller Coasters

For Teachers 7th - 9th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Using Your Marbles: Making Energy Work for You

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity is based on the common experiment of running a marble down a ramp to do work on a cup. Learners will be able to see the relationship between mass and energy of the marble and the ramp height.
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Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Balloon Car

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students will design, build, and race balloon-powered cars in this fun lesson that teaches about engineering design and kinetic and potential energy.
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Lesson Plan
The Tech Interactive

The Tech Museum of Innovation: Save the Hiker [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Can you build a device that will deliver life-saving treatment to someone in a hazardous situation? During this instructional activity, learners will learn how energy is converted and transferred between objects. Working in groups and...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Imagine Life Without Friction

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students are introduced to the concept of inertia and its application to a world without the force of friction acting on moving objects. When an object is in motion, friction tends to be the force that acts on this object to slow it down...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Clean Energy: Hydropower

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating Kinetic Theory: An Inquiry Into the Ideal Gas Law

For Teachers 9th - 10th
When an overturned beaker is placed on top of a birthday candle in shallow pan of water, the candle will first go out and then water will appear to creep up the sides of the beaker like magic. Student will hypothesize and investigate why...
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Discovery Education: The Ultimate Roller Coaster Contest

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Collisions and Momentum: Bouncing Balls

For Teachers 7th - 9th
As a continuation of the theme of potential and kinetic energy, this instructional activity introduces the concepts of momentum, elastic and inelastic collisions. Many sports and games, such as baseball and ping-pong, illustrate the...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Virtual Photoelectric Lab

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, students measure the relationship between kinetic energy of photoelectrons and the frequency of the incident light.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Work and Power: Waterwheel

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Other

How to smile.org: Build a Wind Turbine

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A step-by-step guide to build a wind turbine. Using their wind turbine, learners test how much energy is created by using a variety of wind blades and wind speeds.
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Lesson Plan
American Chemical Society

Middle School Chemistry: Heat, Temperature, and Conduction

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students observe, describe, and draw a model on the molecular level, showing how energy is transferred from one substance to another through conduction.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: A River Ran Through It

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars 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...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Latex and Hybrids: What's the Connection?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
An engineering challenge where students create small-scale models from which their testing results could be generalized to large-scale latex tubing for a hydraulic accumulator. They brainstorm ideas about how latex can be used in a...
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Discovery Education: Build Your Own Perpetual Motion Machine [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A lesson for students to explore the conversion of energy from electrical energy to kinetic energy by constructing a homopolar motor. Also by constructing the motor, students can investigate magnetism, electricity, and RPM.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: What a Drag

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students learn about friction and drag - two different forces that convert energy of motion to heat. Both forces can act on a moving object and decrease its velocity. Students learn examples of friction and drag, and suggest ways to...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Engineering in Sports

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Scientific American: It's a Kid's World: Body Sense

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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.

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