Mary Alice Adair, Jenn Francis, Sydney Gorewitz
Two Week Unit Plan: Force & Energy: 3rd Grade
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Vics lesson Vics lesson Vics lesson Vics lesson Vics lesson
(ADI) (ADI) (ADI) (ADI) (ADI)
Swing Lesson Force with Force with
blocks blocks
Lesson Plan #1
The first 5 days of the unit will be spent using VICs Potential and Kinetic Energy Lab from the
4th grade Argument Driven Inquiry book.
Lesson plan #2
Lesson Title Potential and Kinetic Energy- Lesson #2
Author(s) Jenn Francis, Sydney Gorewitz, Mary Alice Adair
Grade Level 3rd
Description of 24 students, two english language learners, and one student
Students with IEPs
Length of Lesson One hour
Desired Results of Lesson
Big idea addressed (in part or in whole) How kinetic energy and potential energy
in the lesson relate
TEKS (6) Force, motion, and energy. The
student knows that forces cause change
and that energy exists in many forms. The
student is expected to:
(A) explore different forms of energy,
including mechanical, light, sound, and
heat/thermal in everyday life;
SWBAT (What will students understand Students will be able to identify how
and be able to do as a result of the kinetic and potential energy relate within a
lesson, assessed by the assessment) system. Students will use swings as a
representation for potential and kinetic
energy.
Content (explain in detail the content or - As KE increases, PE decreases
concepts focused on in the lesson) and vice versa
- When at the very top of the swing,
the student is not moving up or
down for a split second, so there is
no kinetic energy, but lots of
potential energy.
- As the person swings down, PE
transforms into KE.
- At the bottom all of the energy is
KE.
- As the swing goes upward KE
transforms into PE until it reaches
the highest point where the is no
KE, only PE
- As the swing swings back down the
PE transforms back into KE
- This continues until the swing
eventually stops moving due to
friction
Common alternative conceptions - There is never a point where the
(misconceptions): swing is not moving: in reality, it is
hard to see because it happens so
quickly, but when the swing
reaches the highest point they stop
going up, but have not started
going back down yet, so they have
no motion
- The swing just slows down and the
energy is gone: however,
according to the law of energy of
conservation, energy is never
created or destroyed, it transfers.
The swing slows due to friction and
from the air molecules against the
swing.
General Description of Lesson
Last week we learned about potential and kinetic energy. Teacher will ask what they
learned and they will review what they learned in the ADI lesson. Students will form groups of 4
and go outside to the swings. Teacher will review safety procedures outside (dont talk to other
class, dont play on areas other than the swings, etc.) Students will film each other on the
swings using IPADS in slow motion. Only one student will swing and the second student will
video. The third student will be in charge of playground safety ensuring that students standing
by dont get hit by the swing. The fourth student will observe. Students will come inside and
re-watch the videos. Students will be looking at the videos to see the types of energy that are
occurring on the different parts of the swing. Students will glue swing picture into their science
journals. They will label each position (1, 2 and 3) with the type of energy each position has and
why. Then, there will be 3 questions underneath the picture for the students to answer. 1. What
type of energy(s) does student 1 have and why? 2. What type of energy(s) does student 2 have
and why? 3. What type of energy(s) does student 2 have and why? 4. Which position has the
most kinetic energy and why? 5. Which position has the most potential energy and why? This
worksheet will be done with the group of 4 they did the video with, and they will use the video as
a reference to complete it. Once each group completes the worksheet, they will partner with
another group to talk through what they found. They will talk about the answers they found on
the worksheet, and they will compare similarities and differences through a group discussion.
The teacher will facilitate these discussions. The teacher will wrap up the discussion by asking
groups to share, and the teacher will record these on a similarities and differences T-chart.
Lesson Plan #3
Lesson Title Force, Motion, & Energy
Author(s) Jenn Francis, Sydney Gorwitz, Mary Alice Adair
Source(s) n/a
Grade Level 3rd Grade
Description of Average of 23 students, boys and girls
Students
Length of Lesson Five days
Desired Results of Lesson
Big idea addressed (in part or in whole) in Students will model how force impacts
the lesson motion through pulling rope in teams.
Students will do an experiment to find their
own data, claims, evidence, and
justification.
The guiding question for students as they
conduct this experiment will be how does
force influence the distance an object
moves? Students will complete this on
poster board, and then they will walk around
and look at other groups. Students and
teacher will have a discussion, and then the
students will complete a writing prompt.
TEKS TEKS:
(6) Force, motion, and energy. The student
knows that forces cause change and that
energy exists in many forms. The student is
expected to:
(A) explore different forms of
energy, including mechanical, light,
sound, and heat/thermal in everyday
life;
(B) demonstrate and observe how
position and motion can be changed
by pushing and pulling objects to
show work being done such as
swings, balls, pulleys, and wagons;
and
SWBAT (What will students understand and Students will predict which direction a rope
be able to do as a result of the lesson, will be pulled based on force.
assessed by the assessment) Students will record their predictions about
what will happen to an object when a
specific force is applied.
Students will model which side of a rope has
more force.
Essential Question (single question used to How does the amount of force affect the
focus the lesson, students should be able to motion of an object?
answer this question at the end of the
lesson)
Content (explain in detail the content or The greater the mass of an object,
concepts focused on in the lesson) the greater the force must be
exerted in order to move the object
Force = push or pull
Force= mass X acceleration
When a force is exerted on an
object, the object will either change
speed (go faster or slower) or
direction
When pulling a rope, the greater
force will be the force that will win
because there is more force in 1
direction
Common alternative conceptions More people = more force. Yes,
(misconceptions): adding more people will increase the
force, but some individuals exert less
force than others based on
weight/strength, so force is more
dependent upon the amount of push
or pull exerted than the amount of
people involved. The amount of
force exerted is what causes the
change. For example: sydney versus
2 PK children
General Description of Lesson
How will students be grouped or arranged? Provide a brief overview of the lesson activities. You
will describe them in detail later.
Students will be engaged in the lesson by participating in an experiment where their table group
plays a tug of war game against another table group. The students will first make predictions as
to which group will win and why. After they do the tug of war game, the students will record
which group won and why they think they won. They can do this as many times as they would
like to during the 5 minutes. Next, the students will participate in an experiment based on the
guiding question: How does force influence the distance an object moves? The table groups will
each have a 2000g block which one student will move with their own force. Each student will
have specific roles. There will be 3 trials. The same student will push the block with full force,
medium force and light force. The students will record this data in their science journals. The
students will then draft an argument on a poster. These arguments will include a claim,
evidence and justification of the evidence. The students will then walk around looking at the
other groups arguments, giving compliments and suggestions and asking questions. There will
then be a class discussion based on findings. Finally, students will answer the prompt, Write
about the different ways that you can make a rope move in their science journals.
The Sequence of Activities:
Describe what the student and the teacher will do during each stage of the lesson. Be sure to
describe the learning experiences and the assessments. You also need to discuss any
management considerations (e.g., picking up materials, movement of students, etc.)
Engage:
Describe what will happen during the engage:
Students will work in table groups. 3 out of the 6 groups will be given a rope. The groups
with and without ropes will be paired. (groups 1 and 2 together, groups 3 and 4 together,
groups 5 and 6 together). Students will be directed to play tug of war with each other. Before
they play tug of war, they will write in their science journals which team they think will win and
why. Example: I predict that ___ team will win because ____. There will be tape on the floor to
help students see who wins the game of tug and war (first team to go over the line loses when
they are pulled over the line). Students will be directed to go back to their tables after this
activity.
Students will write what they observed in their science journals. They will make a chart based off
a sentence strip that says_____ Team won. I think they won because ________.
What the students What the teacher will Anticipated student Things to look for
will do do or ask during this questions and the during this step
step teachers planned
responses
Students will Teacher will explain Why did their go farther Students that arent
predict what will the rope activity. than mine? The answer working together in
happen with the Teacher will facilitate will be, that is for you groups or are being
rope. Students will the activity and make to think about and too
complete tug of war sure the tug of war figure out during these aggressive/forceful
activity. Students activity is done safely. experiments. during the tug of
will then write their war experiment
observations.
Explore:
Describe what will happen during the explore:
Students will participate in an experiment. Each table group will have one block that is
2000 grams. Each group will decide on who has what jobs. These jobs include a designated
block pusher, distance moved watcher, and recorder. Teacher will provide procedure by telling
the students that one designated person will be pushing a block with different forces to see how
far it travels. Teacher will also provide the guiding question which is: How does force influence
the distance an object moves? Students will use rules and will measure and record in science
journals the distance in centimeters the block travels after force applied. The designated student
who is in charge of applying force will apply three different amounts of force such as, the
maximum amount of force, medium amount of force, and least amount of force. Teacher will
remind students that the force applied will vary depending on the designated student. In
addition, each table will decide how much force to apply on the block for each category in
regards to most, middle, and least force applied. The table will then decide how they want to
best record the data from the experiment, then the recorder will scribe all findings into whatever
data collection table or graph chosen. Students will draft an argument on posters. These
arguments will include a claim, evidence and justification of the evidence.
What the What the teacher Anticipated student questions and Things to look for
students will will do or ask the teachers planned responses during this step
do during this step
Students will The teacher will Students might have trouble Teacher will make
follow explicitly explain deciding how much force to apply sure all students are
teachers the experiment and for most, middle and least. engaged and
guidelines to walk around to Students might think that they are participating in their
perform the observe, offer the force. Teacher needs to remind group.
experiment. guidance and ask students that they APPLY the Teacher will watch
probing questions force. tudents are
how s
to struggling Students might struggle on how to choosing to
groups. best represent their data. Teacher represent their data.
can respond by asking students
what different ways they know
how to represent data and which
one will best satisfy the data that
they have. Teacher needs to
remind students what data they
are focusing on collecting.
Teacher can ask students: What
are you measuring? What are you
comparing?
Explain:
Describe what will happen during the explain:
Students will go around and look at each others posters. Each group will choose 2
students that will stay at their poster and explain their argument to those that are walking
around. Students that are walking around will have sticky to ask questions, compliment, and
offer suggestions. Questions will be pink sticky notes, compliments will be orange, and
suggestions will be yellow. There will be a sticky note color key on the main board to remind
students of which color is for each type of comment. After students go around to all the groups,
they will return to their own. Teacher will guide discussion and ask the whole class, What did
you learn from looking at all of the different graphs? Which way of representing the data
seems to work best? Why did your group decide on X way of representing your data versus
another way? Why do you think so? Did any group have a claim that differs from yours? Why
do you think they have a different claim? Is there anything about their graph that is different from
yours? How were your experiments similar?
What the What the teacher Anticipated student questions Things to look for
students will will do or ask and the teachers planned during this step
do during this step responses
Participate in Facilitate the Teacher wants to stress that Listen to hear how
discussion discussion there are better ways to students are
Walk around Walk around and represent data than others. For discussing
and look at look at the students example, a pie graph would not similarities and
everyone's posters- Teachers work well in this situation. differences among
results will use their Teacher wants to stress. groups arguments.
posters to check Students may ask why one Help to make sure
where the students students block moved more they are backing up
are at. Teacher will than hers and the teacher would claims with evidence
use this information ask t hem about force and what and using that
to guide discussion. claim they just made (as force evidence for the
increases, distance moved discussion.
increases, so student must have
exerted more force on the block.
Elaborate:
Describe what will happen during the elaborate phase:
For the elaborate portion, students will write in their science journals about the prompt
that the teacher will write on the board. The prompt will be Write about the different ways that
you can make a rope move. In your explanation, think about the effects of force on an object as
it moves.
What the What the teacher will do Anticipated student Things to look for
students will do or ask during this step questions and the during this step
teachers planned
responses
Write in Teacher will give prompt Make sure all
science journal and let the students A student might students are
write say i dont know writing
how to make a rope
move?
Teacher can say
what did we do in
the experiment?
What are some
ways that the rope
moved differently?
Evaluate
Assessments
Summative Assessment:
This assessment should address each learning target outlined in the desired results and be
structured so that the teacher knows whether or not each student has met the objectives for the
lesson. This assessment can be in multiple forms, it does not have to be multiple choice, it can
be questions to answer or a picture to draw, etc.
Attach your summative assessment and explain how it helps you identify whether or not
each student has met the learning objectives.
Teacher will collect science journals at the end of this lesson to look over each students work.
Teacher will hand out sheet of paper with a question as an exit ticket.
The question will be: How does the amount of force affect the motion of an object?
Materials Needed For Lesson
Material Quantity per Student
or Student Group
3 for 3 table groups
Rope
Paper One per student
Pencil One per student
Science notebooks One per student
Blocks One per group
Posterboard Per group
This is how our ideal poster would look. This is how we would guide the discussion and
our goals for the experiment. This is a guide for us, and not what we necessarily expect
all groups to look like:
Guiding Question: How does force influence the distance an object moves? (everyone has the
same question)
Claim: As force increases, the distance moved increases.
Evidence: Students would have a graph to represent their data. Line graphs or bar graphs
would what are ideal. We would not want students to use pie graphs to represent the data.
Our Justification of the lesson: When we applied the maximum amount of force, the block
moved the farthest. When we applied the least amount of force, the object moved the least. This
shows that an increase in force increases the amount that an object moves.