6th grade Physical Science in Indiana

In this Energy lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades 6-12, students use an online simulation to
design their own roller coaster car and track which uses just the right amount of energy to get a coaster
going but make sure it stops in time

Objectives

Resources

Procedure

Students will observe real-time transfers of energy between

kinetic, potential, and dissipated energy.
Students will learn to interpret the data generated by their
coasters in order iterate their coaster design, try for great
success, and improve their score.
Internet access for BrainPOP
Interactive whiteboard
Pre-lab, lab, and post-lab worksheets
Colored pencils for each student
Project the Graphic Organizer for the class to see. Ask students to share
what they already know about potential and kinetic energy and type their
responses directly into the form.
Play the BrainPOP movies on Potential Energy and Kinetic Energy to
continue building student background knowledge around key terms and
concepts.
Revisit the graphic organizer and allow students to revise their

responses and add to them.

Pass out the lab worksheet packet and have students complete the
pre-lab pages with a partner or small group and discuss the answers
as a class afterward as needed. Or, if students need more support,
go through the pages together.
Project the Coaster Creator game for the class to see. Click on "Learn
how to craft a super coaster" and walk through the information with
students.
Click on "Build a roller coaster right now" and invite a student
volunteer to come up to the interactive whiteboard and try it out.
Talk about the choices the student is making, and encourage the
class to contribute ideas and use the concepts of potential, kinetic,
and dissipated energy to inform game play.
Pause the game and work through the lab worksheet. Students may
want to attempt the worksheet independently and then talk about it
with a partner or group. Use the other BrainPOP movies and topic
resources listed at the top of the page to support students in their
thinking.
Resume game play and allow other students to assist and add to the
coaster creation, discuss strategies, and try out alternate techniques.

Assessme
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Indiana
State
Standards

Refer students back to the lab worksheet as they plan their ideas.
Have students complete the post-lab worksheet independently as an
assessment or collaboratively as a practice/extension activity.
Quiz over learned information next day.
Grade: 06
CCSS.Math.Content.6.EE.B.6
Use variables to represent numbers and write expressions when solving a
real-world or mathematical problem; understand that a variable can represent
an unknown number, or, depending on the purpose at hand, any number in a
specified set.
Grade: 06
CCSS.Math.Content.6.EE.B.7
Solve real-world and mathematical problems by writing and solving
equations of the form x + p = q and px = q for cases in which p, q and x are
all nonnegative rational numbers.
Grade: 06
CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.2
Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b
0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship. For example,
This recipe has a ratio of 3 cups of flour to 4 cups of sugar, so there is 3/4
cup of flour for each cup of sugar. We paid $75 for 15 hamburgers, which is
a rate of $5 per hamburger.1
Grade: 06
CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3
Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems,
e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double
number line diagrams, or equations.
Grade: 06
CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3b
Solve unit rate problems including those involving unit pricing and constant
speed. For example, if it took 7 hours to mow 4 lawns, then at that rate, how
many lawns could be mowed in 35 hours? At what rate were lawns being
mowed?
Grade: 06, 07, 08
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.9
Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations,
video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same
topic.
Grade: 06, 07, 08
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.7
Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text
with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart,
diagram, model, graph, or table).

Citation: Potential and Kinetic Energy Lesson Plan: Coaster Creator Game. (2015)
Retrieved from: http://www.brainpop.com/educators/community/lesson-plan/coastercreator-game-lesson-plan/