Acceleration Rotationby Diane Harold, 8th Grade Teacher
SUBJECT: Science GRADES: 3-5, 6-8
BRAINPOP MOVIES BRAINPOP JR. MOVIES
Acceleration Force Newton's Laws of Motion OBJECTIVES Students will:
- Collect and organize data
- Plot coordinates and interpret graph
- Observe, calculate, and define acceleration
MATERIALS
- Access to BrainPOP
- Masking tape
- Meter stick
- Space to Run
- Stopwatches (three per group of five)
- Graph paper
- Notebooks
- Ruler
- Colored pencils
PREPARATION
Split class into groups of 5. Familiarize students with how to use a stopwatch. Go over which buttons to press to start, stop, and reset the stopwatch.LESSON PROCEDURE
- Day 1: Watch BrainPOP’s Force movie. Have groups discuss thedifference between Acceleration and Velocity. Then have them complete the Force Activity Page individually. Students could take the Force Quiz as a whole class, or with groups depending on computer setup.
- Day 2: Watch BrainPOP’s Acceleration movie. Have groups discuss the difference between Acceleration and Speed. Select, or allow students to choose, one of BrainPOP’s Acceleration Activities to complete.
- Day 3: Assemble students, along with their materials, in an area where each group has enough space to run 15 meters. Have each group measure out 15 meters, using masking tape to mark the 0, 5,10, and 15-meter marks.
- Arrange groups so that one student will stand at the 0 meter start mark, one at 5 meters, one at 10 meters, and finally one at 15 meters. The fifth student will record data for the group.
- The student at the starting line will hold their arm up in the air while the other three students ready their stopwatches at the 5, 10, and 15-meter marks.
- As soon as the students are ready, the student at the 0-meter mark will lower his/her arm (the signal) and start running.
- The other three students will start their stopwatches at the same exact time when they see the signal.
- After the watches are stopped, the data collector should record the runner’s time at the 5, 10, and 15 meter mark in their notebook.
- Rotate through until each student has completed each role.
- Day 4: Have students share the data they collected within their groups. As a group, have them discuss how they could show their data using the graph paper. Have them graph their results.
- Have groups present their results. What conclusions can they draw about acceleration from their experiment?
- Have students complete BrainPOP’s Acceleration Quiz and read the Acceleration FYI’s out loud or within their groups.
VOCABULARY
speed; velocity; accelerationEXTENSION ACTIVITY
- Students can use a spreadsheet program like Excel to graph data.
- Students can enter data into a graphing calculator.
- Students can watchBrainPOP’s Newton's Laws of Motion movie and complete the activity or quiz.
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