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Newton's Physics Notebook
Newton's Physics Notebook
Purpose
Purpose
Students will learn about Newton's Laws.
Students will perform hands-on computer explorations and activities related to Newton's Laws, the physics of balls and ramps and amusement park physics.
Created by: Julie Newton
Huntington Beach City School District
Resources Needed
Resources Needed
An internet connected computer.
Internet and computer skills.
Curiousity and imagination.
Reading proficiency and comprehension skills.
Activities
Activities
1. Meet Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton is an important scientist who merged math and science to learn more about the way things in our world move.
Click here to see a picture of him and read his biography.
2. Explore Newton's First Law - The Law of Inertia
Read Newton's First Law
Find out what inertia is from Professor Parsons from Science Court.
Go visit Science Court to read a comic, answer a quiz question and conduct some experiments about inertia.
Need more information. This site gives you another explaination.
This animated movie shows how Newton's First Law applies to moving vehicles. Watch the ladder to see what happens to objects in motion.
This simple demonstration shows how when a hammer falls the head keeps traveling toward the ground even after it hits.
This experiment with marbles that you can print out and do at home will demonstrate Newton's First Law
3. Explore Newton's Second Law - The Law of Acceleration
Read Newton's Second Law
Here is another explaination of Newton's Second Law.
This interactive demonstration allows you to choose how much force you want to use to push an elephant. The higher the number you type into the box, the more force you are using. Pay special attention to the relationship between the force and how fast the elephant moves. That is Newton's Second Law at work.
How does Newton's Second Law apply to a car. Drive this interactive car to see what happens as you give the car more gas and what happens when you try to stop.
Do you like bumper cars? These will demonstrate how Newton's Laws predict which car will take the force of the hit.
4. Explore Newton's Third Law - The Law of Interaction
Read about Newton's Third Law.
Professor Parsons from Science Court explains gravity, weight and mass.
Watch a movie to learn about gravity
After watching the movie take the gravity quiz
Print out this activity page to do on your own.
Go visit Science Court to read a comic, answer a quiz question and conduct some experiments about gravity. You will need to use a calculator to help you multiply.
5. The physics of balls and ramps
Bouncing Balls - this experiment looks at why some balls bounce more than others.
Why do we use certain balls for certain games? Read a story about using a tennis ball to play baseball.
How Things Work - Bouncing Balls- Louis A. Bloomfield answers questions about balls for kids just like you.
How does a ball move on a ramp when you make the ramp higher or lower and change the speed of the ball?
Play this Ramp n' Roll game to find out.
Do experiments with different sized and weight balls to see which travels faster or farther.
6. Amusement Park Physics
How do rollercoasters work? Check this out.
Build your own rollercoaster here and find out what an expert rider thinks of it.
This rollercoaster building site allows you to change many different part of the coaster and see how the car will travel on it. Beware... if you get too extreme the car will fly off your track.
Amusement Park Physics is a great site that allows you to learn how rollercoasters work and to build your own coaster and find out how safe and fun it would be.
Visit this site to learn all the details about your favorite ride and give your opinion about that coaster for everyone to read.
Build your own rollercoaster with ramps, tubes, and tape. Have a friend take a "ride" on it by sending a ball through it.
7. Physics Vocabulary
Use this dictionary to look up words you come across that you don't know.
Use these words (force, motion, velocity, mass, density, acceleration, energy, newton, inertia, gravity, speed, time) to make a crossword puzzle using Puzzlemaker. You can copy the words from here and paster them into your puzzle setup.
Here is a good physics glossary.
A Few Internet Resources:
Sheppard's Science Resources
Sheppard's Useful Links
Email: julie.sweeney@hbcsd.k12.ca.us
Created August 17, 2001
Last Revised January 21, 2002
Teacher Notes
Teacher Notes
Suggested Grade Level: 2 (with some assistance reading and navigating)
Suggested Grade Level: 2 (with some assistance reading and navigating)
California Science Content Standards
Grade 2- Physical Sciences
1. The motion of objects can be observed and measured.
As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. the position of an object can be described by locating it relative to another object or the background.
b. an object's motion can be described by recording the change in its position over time.
c. the way to change how something is moving is to give it a push or a pull. The size of the change is related to the strength, or the amount of "force," of the push or pull.
d. tools and machines are used to apply pushes and pulls (forces) to make things move.
e. objects near the Earth fall to the ground unless something holds them up.
S.C.O.R.E. Lessons Standards Search by Grade and Subject
S.C.O.R.E. Standards and Framework
California Content Standards Grades K-12
California Content Standards Grades K-12 - Science - PDF Format
Background
Students need computer and internet skills to use this WebQuest.
A great resource for how to teach children the basics of the internet is at enchantedlearning.com
Students need proficient reading and comprehension skills to use this site. It may be best completed in pairs.
Skills
Computer proficiency and internet browsing.
Reading non-fiction content area materials.
Exploration and experimentation in the area of physics.
Making inferences
Following multiple-step directions
Assessment
Vocabulary based wordsearch
Content-area reading and comprehension
Multiple interactive experiments
Hands-on science exploration and experimentation - if you have materials available for students to build an ramp system or do experiments with balls.
Technology skills
Enrichment
Take your students on a field trip to an amusement park for a physical science day.
Knott's Berry Farm -Adventures in Education
Six Flags Parks - Fill out group information form for the location of your choice. Choose physics day for the name of the event.
Disneyland Resorts - Youth Education Series
A directory of amusement parks all over the world.
Collect tubes, ramps, rain gutters, cardboard pieces and other treasures for students to use to create their own ramp systems. Send balls through them to see how well they have learned physics.
See an example of this in a first grade classroom.
RollerCoaster Tycoon is a great computer CD-ROM game that kids can use what they know to build a rollercoaster and take classmates for a ride.
Books to read about roller coasters.
Books to read about physics.
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