This lesson will quickly review Newton's 1st Law of Motion, gravity, force and inertia. It will then move into introducing Newton's 2nd Law of Motion while learning about force, mass, and acceleration. (Appropriate for grade levels 4-8 with extension activities that teachers can use after the lesson is completed.)
Lesson Time: 60 minutes
Student Activity 1: This activity has students experience Newton's 2nd Law while using a variable sheet. As they change the variable by increasing force, mass, or acceleration they will see the result to the other variables.
Adult Demonstration: Students will experience a change in acceleration as the mass and force stay constant, as they sit on a scooter and are pulled while holding onto a spring scale.
Student Activity 2: Students will compare the acceleration of a ping pong ball to the acceleration of a golf ball when a constant force is applied. We want students to show the connection between force (F), mass (m), and acceleration (a).
Student Activity 3: The last activity involves students racing balloons across a suspended string, showing that the balloon with the lower mass will travel faster than a weighted balloon.
Group work: Students will work in groups of 3-4 students. In order to save time, teachers are asked to create the groups before our Wizard arrives.
Science Standards:
4.PS.2: Energy can be transferred from one location to another or can be transformed from one form to another
5.PS.1: The amount of change in movement of an object is based on the mass of the object and the amount of force exerted
6.PS.4: An object's motion can be described by its speed and the direction it is moving
7.PS.3: Energy can be transformed or transferred, but is never lost
7.PS.4: Energy can be transferred through a variety of ways
8.PS.2: Forces can act to change the motion of objects