This complete unit will help you teach your fourth-grade science class about speed, energy, motion, & colliding objects and will keep your students engaged!
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.
If you use the suggested schedule that I’ve included, this unit will cover six days worth of units!
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.
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 is a standards-aligned unit designed to cover NGSS 4-PS3-1 and 4-PS3-3 as well as Utah SEEd 4.2.1 and 4.2.2. and • NJSLS 4-PS3-3
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.
Other teachers LOVE this resource!
Check out two of the dozens of perfect reviews:
This is a great science unit. My students loved the activities and it was easy to find the materials for the labs just around the classroom. Great unit.
Ella W.
This is a great 4th-grade science resource. My students really learned about variables and setting up a fair test and also learned about speed and motion and colliding objects. There is a lot to this!
Pavil S.
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