6th - 8th Grade Module 3 Concept 3

Cycle 1

How do force and energy affect collisions?
Session 1
Elicit

Students examine images of collisions and explain the forces exerted on one object to another. Students draw and label a model of a collision involved in their chosen sport.

Engage

Students determine a strategy in a computer game involving the collision of two pucks to transfer the correct amount of energy to reach a target zone.

Session 2
Explore

Students collect evidence to determine that manipulating the mass and/or the velocity of an object causes a change in motion after a collision.

Session 3
Explain

Students critically read text about Newton’s Third Law to explain forces are equal and opposite in collisions. Students complete an interactive reading about the conservation of energy during a collision.

Session 4
Elaborate

Students use an online simulation to determine how the mass and velocity of objects before a collision affect the kinetic energy after the collisions.

Session 5
Evaluate

Students evaluate data to construct an argument about how to change the total energy of a collision and how to change the force objects exert on each other during a collision.