Newton's Laws and Forces Lab stations (TpT): My students always love this day. This activity includes 12 stations that vary greatly in what students get to do. They'll play with a marble roller coaster, race a toy car, and try to pull a table cloth out from under cups without tipping them over. This does require a lot of materials but they are all inexpensive and most are found at the dollar store or you can improvise. I teach block classes and this generally takes up most if not all of the block.
Fettuccine Structure Lab: Examining Weight and Force (TpT): In this lab students will work in groups to build a free standing structure out of 25 pieces of fettuccine and a meter of masking tape. The student groups will compete against each other to see who can create the strongest structure. Test the strength of the fettuccine structures using books. Students will examine the weight held by the structures as well as the force exerted by the fettuccine. They will also examine design elements to see what makes a strong structure. I've done this lab several times with both Physical Science and Physics students. Some groups get frustrated quickly, others love the challenge of it. I stack paperback workbooks on it (~ 1 pound each) with a piece of foam board to help keep the books flat. The best part of this lab is destroying the students' hard work in a matter of minutes. Balloon Rocket Lab (TpT): This lab is geared towards high school physical science students. It fits nicely into a unit on forces and Newton's Laws. You probably have majority of the supplies already and the ones you don't have are fairly inexpensive. Students will build a simple balloon rocket it out of fishing line, a sandwich bag, tape, a straw, and you guessed it, a balloon! They will study how adding cargo to the rocket affects how far and how fast the balloon travels. Included your purchase is background information, a diagram of how to set up the balloon rocket, the student lab sheet, and an answer key for the conclusion questions. Keep in mind this is a Word doc so you are free to edit the lab to fit your individual needs. |
Above are 4 of the lab stations. These are "Newton's Race," "Marble Coaster," "Friction Races," and "Paratrooper"
Below are a few pictures of the fettuccine structures from this past school year. |