Zoooooming with Force and Motion!

By Tammy
Freebies, Planning, Science

One of my favorite things about being a teacher is watching how excited kids get when something just “clicks” in their heads. I love that moment. While it happens often in the classroom from just everyday lessons, there is something even more exciting about it when it happens from a hands-on experiment. That is one reason I just love science. It’s an opportunity to play while you learn.

Explore force and motion with these hands-on engaging activities that are sure to get your students' motor running. While you're here, grab a free activity!

We have been studying force and motion in my classroom recently and that means lots of experiments with cars! First, we explored height and how gravity is a force by creating a ramp of just basic wood and our science textbooks.

Together students took on the roles of managing a stopwatch, measuring the distance, and calculating the speed. As they zoomed the cars down the ramps, students were quick to discover that the higher the book, the greater the speed.

Force and motion physical science experiment.

In fact, once they created a height of five books, they were amazed to discover that in every group, the car started to curve and change directions at the end of the ramp. We hypothesized why this was. It was fun to hear their ideas. Some thought it was like being out of control on ice because the force was just too great to control.

The next day we decided to test weight. We added pennies to the cars and zoomed them down the ramps again. Actually many students thought the weight would slow them down. We discussed if there was ever a time that weight would slow something down more than speed it up and why. (I love to ask why in my classroom. It drives my students crazy- a lot like a toddler would their parents!)

Of course, you can definitely enjoy this activity with your students too by heading over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and snatching up my Force and Motion Unit (or click on the image below).

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Force-and-Motion-Science-Unit-1655607

GRAB YOUR FREEBIE!

I have a sheet below for you to download free. It is a force and motion inquiry-like sheet. Just click here to download it FREE!

Happy Experimenting–

Save

force and motion, freebie, Physical Science, Science Investigations

One Response

Carol Davis says:

January 31, 2015 at 11:32 pm

Awesome! I agree with you completely that watching kids learn by doing is the greatest thing! I love science for this very reason! Thanks for linking up! We will repeat this link up!
Carol
Teachers Are Terrific!