Digital Unit Plan

Unit Title: Forces and Motion Name: Lindsay McGary, Kim Umberson,
Jun Chung

Content Area: Physical Science Grade Level: 8

Next Generation Science Standards/Performance Expectations

MS-PS2-1. Apply Newtons Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two
colliding objects.

MS-PS2-2. Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an objects motion depends
on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.

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-PS3-2. Develop a model to describe that when the arrangements of objects interacting at a
distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.

Anchoring Activity

Many people still suffer from not knowing the importance of wearing seatbelts. In the classroom, we
are using models to juxtapose humans and their vehicles to eggs and model cars respectively.
Students will be tasked with creating and revising a model car, made from household items brought
by the students from home, to become increasingly more effective at protecting an egg in the event
of a collision through applications of important themes in forces and motion.

Driving Question of the Unit

Why do we need to use seatbelts while in a moving vehicle?

Unit Goals---Describe what you want students to be able to do. For example, I wanted my
students to be able to know when to use the epistemic practices when I gave them
verbal or visual cues. Students will need to be able to recognize science even if it is not
in the verbal form. See the article Outside the Pipeline: Reimagining Science Education
for Nonscientists. A summary of the article is in the appendix of this unit plan template.

Students will be able to create a learning environment where students develop the skills to recognize
when and how science is relevant to their daily lives.
Students will be able to help students engage in peer review.of science and daily life.
Students will engage in epistemic practices to examine a science-inflected social problem, with the
of uncovering epistemic and ethical nuances at the interface.
Students will be able to facilitate socio-scientific issue discussion in class.
Students will develop curiosity and the desire to ask and find solutions to their own questions.

Lesson 1 Safety

Student Learning Objectives: Using Acceptable Evidence Formative

materials (brought from home), students will and/or Summative Assessment:
design an initial model of a car that can be Students will access their prior
used to explain why it is necessary to use knowledge to explain why they built
seatbelts in a moving vehicle. their model as they did and what forces
they think are acting on their model
when it is motion.

Lesson 2 Motion

Student Learning Objective: Given a Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or

scenario about a car accident, students will
gather information/data about the motion and
interaction of forces on the model and on the
egg itself based on observations of the
scenario.
Summative Assessment: In their science
notebooks, students will begin by creating a force
diagram for their models undergoing collisions.

Lesson 3 Friction and Energy

Student Learning Objective: Using a virtual Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or

lab on friction (PhET), students will be able to
define what friction is and explain how it could
possibly affect their model.
Summative Assessment: Students will make
revisions to their model with considerations to their
friction lessons. Students will continue to monitor
and report changes to their model in their science
notebooks. Students will revise their initial force
diagrams in their science notebooks to include the
force of friction.

Lesson 4 - Gravity

Student Learning Objective: Using a video Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or

of rollercoaster safety, students will be able to
explain why locking bars/seat belts/etc. are so
important.
Summative Assessment: Students will complete
a worksheet of guided questions to assess their
understanding of gravity. If they have not already
done so, students will include the force of gravity in
their new force diagrams in their science
notebooks.

Lesson 5 - Newtons Laws

Student Learning Objective: Using the Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or

information gathered in the past weeks of the
unit plan, students will be able to explain
Newtons Laws of Motion through a
constructed response.
Summative Assessment: Constructed responses
will include explanations of balanced and
unbalanced forces, horizontal and vertical
interactions between objects, changes in motion of
objects, and mass as a factor in the interactions
between objects.

Unit Summative Assessment

Students will give a presentation describing the changes made to the car models throughout the unit as
well as explanations as to why those changes were made. Students should include arguments as to why
certain refinements to their models worked and why certain refinements did not seem to have an effect on
the effectiveness of the model in keeping the egg(s) safe.

Useful Websites:

Laws of Motion http://www.physics4kids.com/files/motion_laws.html

Forces http://www.physics4kids.com/files/motion_force.html
Friction http://www.physics4kids.com/files/motion_friction.html
Gravity http://www.physics4kids.com/files/motion_gravity.html
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/forces-and-motion-basics/latest/forces-and-motion-
basics_en.html
Amusement Park Physics: What are the forces behind the fun?
http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/
The Physics of Roller Coasters (Sci Show YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=J8pJiV44hVM
Speed, Velocity & Acceleration (Bozeman Sci, YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rZo8-ihCA9E

Energy http://www.physics4kids.com/files/motion_energy.html
Scalars & Vectors (Bozeman Sci, YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUrMI0DIh40