Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Air Resistance
Students use the Motion Detector to measure the effect of air resistance on falling objects. They determine how air resistance and mass affect the terminal velocity of a falling object and then choose a force model that fits the data.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Super Paper Planes
Activity helps students understand force, mass, and measurement.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: You're So Dense Ti 83
Students investigate the relationship between density of an object, its mass and its volume. They use mass and volume measurements to determine the density of pennies. They compare the density of pre-1983 and post-1984 pennies.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Air Is Matter
It's difficult at times for younger students to realize that air has mass. Matter is something that has volume (takes up space) and has mass (*can be weighed). Air does take up space, even if we can't see it, and air has weight, even if...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: At the Speed of Bowling
In this lab students will measure the energy of a bowling ball with vernier motion detectors. The students will calculate the energy of the ball at the beginning, mid point, and end of a bowling alley. Students will inquire about the...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Newton's Second: Having a Ball With Motion
Students will create a gravity ball launcher to demonstrate their understanding of mass, force, momentum, and motion. The students will use critical thinking, measurement, and observation and analysis of data to make changes and improve...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Motion: What Causes Objects to Move?
Students will have an opportunity to determine what makes everyday objects move. Students will be given objects and asked to make predictions on how far each object will move after they blow on it. Then they will measure the distance and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Forces and Graphing
This activity can be used to explore forces acting on an object, to practice graphing experimental data, and/or to introduce the algebra concepts of slope and intercept of a line. A wooden 2x4 beam is set on top of two scales. Students...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Fitness Dice: Lesson Plan
Read the die to find out what exercise to do and how many repetitions are needed, keep a running tally of rolls to see who gets the highest score.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Putting Robots to Work With Force & Friction
Students learn about the concept of pushing, as well as the relationship between force and mass. Students practice measurement skills using pan scales and rulers to make predictions about mass and distance. A LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robot is...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Accelerometer: Centripetal Acceleration
Students work as physicists to understand centripetal acceleration concepts. They also learn about a good robot design and the accelerometer sensor. They also learn about the relationship between centripetal acceleration and centripetal...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Spring Away!
This lab demonstrates Hooke's Law with the use of springs and masses. Students attempt to determine the proportionality constant, or k-value, for a spring. They do this by calculating the change in length of the spring as different...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: States of Matter
Students act as chemical engineers and use LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics to record temperatures and learn about the three states of matter. Properties of matter can be measured in various ways, including volume, mass, density and...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Osmosis Using Water and Gummy Bears
For this biology classroom lab, students investigate the affect of soaking a Gummy Bear in water. They collect measurements of height, width, and mass before and after the soaking of the candy overnight. Students calculate % change for...
SMART Technologies
Smart: States of Matter
This review of matter includes properties, volume, length, mass, and states of matter. Activities, games, and a Monster Quiz are include.
Disfruta Las Matematicas
Disfruta Las Matematicas: Medida
This unit could be used as supplementary material for a topic on measurements. It has good examples with illustrations and some interactive activities.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Jason: How Dense Is Salt Water?
Disappearing Wetlands: Explore the relationship between mass, density, and salinity by measuring the mass and volume of four saltwater solutions of increasing strength.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Jason: Leaf Cutting Ants Fungus Farmers
Rainforests at the Crossroads: Use a TI-73 Explorer to become familiar with a graphical technique for measuring the amount of leaves Leaf Cutter Ants chew. Measure the mass of a chewed leaf and then find its area.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Statistical Analysis of Lincoln
For this activity, students first work in groups to collect information about a set of pennies. They measure and record the mass for each one in a table using a spreadsheet program if possible. They also record its year and, for 1982...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Catapults!
Students observe the relationship between the angle of a catapult (a force measurement) and the flight of a cotton ball. They learn how Newton's second law of motion works by seeing directly that F = ma. When they pull the metal "arm"...
PBS
Pbs: The Lowdown: Exploring Changing Obesity Rates Through Ratios and Graphs
In these KQED Lowdown infographics, explore how adult obesity rates in the United States, as measured by body mass index (BMI), have dramatically changed in the past half-century. A circular graph and a pictograph depict data by decade,...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Water Density
Demonstrate the effect that dissolving different amounts of salt in water has on the density of the liquid.