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Notes for teachers

This is an interchangeable lesson that can work with any unit focused on kinetic and potential energy. It worked well with 6th grade math standards, so I used it as a refresher to the basics of kinetic vs. potential, but it allowed an extension to figuring out on a basic level the Joules involved in both types of energy. It might be best to do this activity in your gym so you can use maximum heights to drop objects from. Higher helps calculate time more easily for students inexperienced with stopwatches.

List of Materials for investigation.

Smart-Board or chromebooks (data entry spreadsheet)
Dry erase board/markers.
Tennis ball or other ball
Stop watches.
Yardsticks or measuring tape
Science notebook/form to record data
Ladder or other elevated space to drop ball from
Recording Sheet- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JBVhCcT8AVBoovoWyF0ml-NbZoKGCK5ksWpg6gxA5Ps/edit?usp=sharing

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Standards

Science and Engineering Standards

Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
Developing and using models
Planning and carrying out

investigations

Analyzing and interpreting data

MS-PS3-1.

Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.

MS-PS3-5.

Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.

Standards

Science: 6.P4U2.5 Analyze how humans use technology to store (potential) and/or use (kinetic) energy.

●Motion energy is properly called kinetic energy; it is proportional to the mass of the moving object and grows with the square of its speed.

● A system of objects may also contain stored (potential) energy, depending on their relative positions

Math: 6.EE.B.5 Understand solving an equation or inequality as a process of reasoning to find the value(s) of the variables that make that equation or inequality true. Use substitution to determine whether a given number in a specified set makes an equation or inequality true. 6.EE.B.6 Use variables to represent numbers and write expressions when solving mathematical problems and problems in real-world context; understand that a variable can represent an unknown number or any number in a specified set

Writing: 6.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

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Objectives:

I can conduct an investigation demonstrating the difference between kinetic and potential energy.

I can draw conclusions from data about the relationship between kinetic energy and the mass of an object in motion and its speed.

I can use specific tools to measure potential and kinetic energy

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Agenda

45- 60 minute lesson

Engage 15 minutes. Use common model to demonstrate how to calculate.

explore 20 minutes

explain/elaborate 10 -20

evaluate 5 -10

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Intro/Driving Question/Opening

What do you notice?

What do you wonder?

These will be our driving questions in this lesson:

What is kinetic energy and how is it transferred to other objects?

What determines the amount of potential energy an object has?

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Data chart for the activity

Kinetic Energy (in motion) KE

Potential Energy (at rest) PE

Object	Mass	Distance Traveled (height)	Time	Velocity

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Hands-on Activity Instructions

Activity (30 minutes)

Have each group gather a stopwatch and lab notebooks (or data worksheet) to collect data.

Collect various balls and have a premeasured mass for students to use.

Steps.

1. Have students measure the height of a pre-weighed ball or object and record the height in their data. Next measure the height where the ball will be dropped from to obtain potential energy. (in later discussion this will be identified as potential energy.)

2. While one student drops the ball off the ladder the other students use a timer to track the amount it took for the ball to drop. ( this will later be labeled velocity after discussion) Students record the time in their notebook.

*Variations

Additional heights to drop from

different size objects dropped

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Plan continued

Activity (30 minutes)

3. Using observations and the data collected students will write down the steps completed and how they think the data might relate to kinetic and potential energy.

link to data chart

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JBVhCcT8AVBoovoWyF0ml-NbZoKGCK5ksWpg6gxA5Ps/edit?usp=sharing

4. Small groups will discuss their observations and interpretation of the data to come to some common assumptions.

5. Students will work together in small groups to draw one model that collectively represents their observations and discuss how it might represent potential and kinetic energy.

6. Collectively as a class develop a working model that labels the experiments, objects and movement to create an illustration of kinetic and potential energy. Discuss the following:

Questions for discussion

What did we see happen in the investigation? Was there energy used in this?
Can we label the types of energy we saw?
What is the energy of motion we saw?
Where did we see energy transform in this investigation?
How can we show that on the model?
Why are we measuring time?
What did height have to do with the transfer?
Did weight have anything to do with this?

What is the relationship between kinetic energy the mass of an object and the speed of an object?
Do you think that the kinetic energy will change if the mass of the object increases why or why not?
What other examples can you give that demonstrate a relationship between kinetic energy and the mass of an object,

7. Have the students construct an explanation using evidence from their model of how potential and kinetic energy are related. (Basic info the response should include in some variation)

Kinetic Energy is energy an object possesses due to its motion. The amount of kinetic energy an object possesses depends on two factors:

1. Mass of the object

The greater the mass of the object, the greater the amount of kinetic energy possessed by the object.

2.Speed Of The Object

The greater the speed of the object, the greater the amount of kinetic energy possessed by the object.

8. Have students enter their data into a group shared sheets for comparisons.

Questions to consider for further or future discussion:

How could you design an different experiment to demonstrate potential and kinetic energy?

What would happen if our experiment used a force to push the ball?

What if the ball impacted other objects?

How would this affect the transfer of energy?

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Assessment

Student performance Assessment will be based on completion of the investigation. Demonstrating mastery of collecting data assessed from data entry table and Sharing what they analyzed the data to mean during class discussion.

Formative assessment can be the students conclusions and answers to the reflection question in their lab book.

This is a link for a simple self or peer scoring paper for paragraph responses

https://docs.google.com/document/d/118c_FjE2C90egUtd0yCS3S2TsC_UkKpM5pip_CCVrkM/edit?usp=sharing

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Differentiation

SLD students can be in charge of the basic measuring and then work with a partner that assists with the math and calculations.

Limited writers can focus on making their model labeled correctly and write complete sentence captions for the parts instead of a formal response.

Remediation

Enrichment/Extension

A project similar to the marble one mentioned here would work.

Build a working model of something that shows both kinetic and potential energy.

Use at beginning of New Year's ball drop and analyze the symbols of a New Year and Kinetic and Potential energy (literal or figurative) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeepC4wEZ1E

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Notes:

Previous activity

Background knowledge Activity (30 minutes)

Students rolled marble on the track in the picture and had to label the parts of the energy transfers they could observe.

Takeaways were that Kinetic energy is the motion happening, and potential energy is not as visible, but exists when an object is in a position to move the most. We used this model as a springboard to figure out the amounts of kinetic and potential energy in the model to confirm if the labels were correct. This helped us figure common ground to use as examples to work on together prior to starting the lesson with calculations.