Final Physical Science Lesson Plan

Force and Motion - 6th Grade - 30-40 minutes

By: Brian Kassay, Lauryn Windham, and Josh Deeney

Description:
6th grade students will investigate Force, Motion, and Newtons Laws by building their
own vehicle and observing how it travels.

Standards:
1.

MS-PS2-1: Motion & Stability: Forces & Interactions

Apply Newton's third law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion
of two colliding objects.
Newtons Laws of Motion
1st Law - Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state
of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
2nd Law - The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and
the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated
by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of
the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector.

3rd Law - For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Learning Objectives:
-

Students will explore the properties of motion and force.

Students will understand that there are many factors that go into what happens
when force is applied to an object.

Students will learn that for any moving object, a larger force can cause a change
in motion.

Vocabulary:
Motion, force, gravity, acceleration, balanced forces, unbalanced forces, speed,
distance, time, reference point.

Assessment:
Students will complete the lesson by individually filling out a worksheet with a diagram of
their vehicle, and answering the lessons driving questions.

Driving Question(s):
What variables affected the force and movement of your vehicle?
How did these variables affect your vehicle?

Instructional Procedures:

Engage:
Students are to imagine they have been tasked by a bozeman engineering firm to create
a new kind of public transit system that travels by cable from Bozeman to Bridger Bowl.
Explore:
In teams of 3-4, students will design and build a vehicle which is able to travel across a
specified distance (10-15 feet) by using only the materials given: scissors, tape, fishing
line, straws, cardboard, and masses(nuts).
Explain:
Students will use the inquiry process to explore the driving questions: What variables
affected the force and movement of your vehicle? How did these variables affect your
vehicle?
Elaborate:
Students will discuss with their group what happened with their vehicle and why that
happened.
Evaluate:
Students will then be directed to continue their evaluation of the class activity with a
follow up worksheet. This worksheet will be done independently and will follow up on our
driving question as well as allow students to diagram their creation.

Materials and Resources:

Materials:

Scissors
Tape
Fishing line
Straws
Cardboard

 Masses(nuts).