Description
In this fourth grade speed and energy unit, students will learn about speed and energy and colliding objects. Students will learn that there are cause and effect relationships between speed and energy. They will also learn that changes in energy occur when objects collide. Students will learn how to set up an investigation with independent, dependent, and control variables to test their ideas, record information, and form a conclusion. Students will also learn about potential and kinetic energy. See more on Colliding Objects here.
This unit includes hands-on activities, labs, two slide shows, follow-up pages, and videos. Three lab activities!
The labs require only a few materials: pennies, tennis balls, marbles or bouncy balls, something to make a ramp.
This unit will take six days if all the parts are used. The resource includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end of the unit.
This resource is aligned with the following standards.
NGSS 4-PS3-1. Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object. [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measures of changes in the speed of an object or on any precise or quantitative definition of energy.]
NGSS 4-PS3-3. Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the change in the energy due to the change in speed, not on the forces, as objects interact.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.]
Utah SEEd Standard 4.2.1
Construct an explanation to describe the cause and effect relationship between the speed of an object and the energy of that object. Emphasize using qualitative descriptions of the relationship between speed and energy like fast, slow, strong, or weak. An example could include a ball that is kicked hard has more energy and travels a greater distance than a ball that is kicked softly. (PS3.A)
Utah SEEd standard 4.2.2
Ask questions and make observations about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide. Emphasize that energy is transferred when objects collide and may be converted to different forms of energy. Examples could include changes in speed when one moving ball collides with another or the transfer of energy when a toy car hits a wall. (PS3.B, PS3.
NJSLS • 4-PS3-3 Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.
This resource uses lots of scientific phenomena! And is aligned with the Science and Engineering Practices and Crosscutting concepts for these standards. Aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and Utah Science and Engineering Education Standards.
