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•Create a Rube Goldberg machine to display and reflect the students’ knowledge of balanced forces, unbalanced forces, friction, and gravity.

•Apply previous knowledge about forces to predict motion.

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Students can identify that when there are two unequal forces on an object, the stronger force will direct the motion of the object

Students can identify when there are two equal forces

on an object,  there will be no motion, or inertia.

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Teacher:
2 long ropes
Cones
Yard stick
Computers
Students:
Tennis shoes
Notebook

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1. Lead students to an area where a large rope is laying in the middle of the ground

2. Ask students
"Is the rope moving?"
"How can we make the rope move?" Have students brainstorm ideas of how to make the rope move.

3. Start a discussion about the ways we can move the rope.

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4. Explain that students will be exploring the concept of force using the game "Tug of War."
5. Divide students into three teams to compete in the game.

A cone will be placed in the middle and at the starting points of both teams.  There will be a tie in the middle of the rope over the middle cone. When a student crosses the middle cone, the other team wins and the distance is measured with a yard stick from the middle cone to the middle tie.

6. Two groups will be pulling the rope, and the third group will be doing the measuring, and they will rotate.  Students will record the results on their notebooks.

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7. After the students have their measurements from "Tug of War," discuss that the rope moved in the direction that had the largest force upon it.  Explain that everything has force upon it. If an object isn't moving, there are balanced forces upon it. Explain that the rope laying still has equal forces upon it. It has gravity pushing it down to earth while the ground is pushing the rope up. The forces on both ends of the rope are the same since no one is pulling on it.

8. Demonstrate that the rope will move when forces become unbalanced. Pick up the rope in the middle and explain that the rope has moved because the force of gravity is less than the force exerted by picking up the rope.

9. Explain that more than one force is always acting on an object. An object will move when there are unbalanced forces.

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Defining Gravity: Crash Course Kids #4.1

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So, if gravity pulls everything down, then why don't things on the bottom of the Earth get pulled down into space? In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina talks about gravity and explains that when we talk about gravity pulling things down, what we really mean is gravity is pulling things TOWARD the Earth.

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Students will be able to define vocabulary and clarify concepts related to key words that will be used throughout the unit.

Students will be able to identify how forces affect the motion of objects.

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There are no extraordinary safety precautions that need to be taken. Just basic classroom management, make sure students are on task and working productively in their groups.

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Teacher

Book

Terms/ Definition Match up Writable Dice

Ball

Students

Pencil

Paper

Chromebook/Ipad

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3-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
3-PS2-2. Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

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Four Way Tug of War
Students could discover that the combining and dividing of teams could help create unbalanced forces and allow the rope to move in the direction of the greater force.

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Teacher read aloud of the story "Newton and Me" by Lynne Mayer. This story can be used with the PLTW Kindergarten Module "Pushes and Pulls."

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The Cake Server | Joseph's Most Complex Machine Ever!

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I hate waiting for dessert, so here's a Rube Goldberg machine to streamline dinnertime. It lets me keep eating, with no break before cake. It's my most complex yet and took 3 months to make so I hope you enjoy it! ► Welcome to my channel! I am an inventor of useless machines.

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Students will create bar graphs of the three winning pulls on Excel

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Diagnostic Assessment
Evaluate student’s ability to come up with ideas to make the rope move
Formative Assessment
Evaluate student's ability to make predictions, observations, and ask questions during tug of war.
Summative Assessment
Evaluate the student’s ability to graph the distance of the strongest force in each game

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To have an understanding of balanced and unbalanced forces and the effects they have on objects.

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Students will investigate and observe the effects that different forces like friction and gravity have upon moving objects.

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Since this project is very open-ended, just make sure that students are using materials in a safe, appropriate way.

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Teacher

Computer

Projector

White board

General craft/classroom supplies (paper, popsicle sticks, glue, scissors, etc.)

Students

Pencil and paper

Small white boards

Any materials that they would like to incorporate into their machine

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1. Play “The Cake Server” video, and task the students with making a list of the forces seen in the video and their corresponding motion (or non-motion).

2. Have the students discuss the forces and motion they saw in the video with the students at their table.

3. Have each table share a different idea with the whole class.  The teacher should write the examples on the board and elaborate when necessary.

4. Present the task: tell the class they will be designing a Rube Goldberg machine with a group of 3-4 students, using their knowledge of balanced and unbalanced forces. The students can use virtually any materials available in the classroom to construct their machine, and they can bring items from home if needed.  Each Rube Goldberg machine should have at least 4 “steps,” illustrating balanced or unbalances forces.

5. Show the student a visual of the Engineering Design Process, including all the major steps (Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve), and tell them that they will be using this process to create their machine.  Walk them through each step and what it means.

6. Start with the Ask step: provide time in class for students to ask questions about the project. This may be a good time to show more example of Rube Goldberg machines and to give students an extensive idea about the types of materials that are available to them.

7. Divide the class into groups of 3-4. Each group will create one Rube Goldberg machine.
8. Provide the groups with lots of time to brainstorm and plan.  The students should begin to think about how they can manipulate classroom materials to create a chain of motion. Before they begin any actual construction, they should have a written plan for their machine approved by the teacher. (Check for understanding: make sure the students’ plan is feasible and illustrates forces in action)

9. Provide time in class for groups to build their machine. Students should test their machine as they are building. It may be necessary for some groups to go back to the asking or planning stage, in order to improve their design.
10. Once every group has successfully completed their machine, each group will present their creation to the class. During the presentation, students should demonstrate what their machine does and point out the 4 different steps in the machine and forces at work within them

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Talk with the whole class about why we don’t use Rube Goldberg machines in our everyday lives.

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·If a machine doesn’t work the way it was supposed to during a presentation, discuss with the group why in terms of forces and motion.

·The teacher can let students pick their groups, or assign groups based on their understanding of the topic.

·Have several Youtube videos and pictures of Rube Goldberg machines ready to show the class if they need more examples or ideas.

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Diagnostic Assessment

Informal discussion about the 3 previous lessons and what they learned

Formative Assessment

Listing examples of forces from the video and coming up with a teacher-approved plan for their machine are both forms of informal formative assessment.

Summative Assessment

Each group’s final Rube Goldberg machine and its presentation serves as their summative assessment. The groups must explain why their machine works in terms of forces and motion and include at least 4 different “steps” in their machine

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Teacher

Toy cars

Books

Cardboard ramps

Tape

Aluminum foil

Felt

Computers/iPads

Students

Ruler/Meter Stick

Pencil

Paper

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1. Discuss what they have learned from lesson 1 of the unit. Who remembers what we discussed yesterday? What is motion? What is force? What is a push/pull? What is motion? (CFU)
2. Play the Defining Gravity video. During the video, students will write something they learned about gravity on a piece of paper.
3. Discuss the video with the class. What are some of the things you learned about gravity? What is gravity? Can gravity act on an object in motion? How? (CFU)
4. Present the assignment: Students will be split into groups of 3-4 and will be investigating how far the toy car will go by adding different friction onto the ramp. The students will use the books and the cardboard to create the ramp. Students will continue to add more books to make the ramp steeper and will add different materials to change the friction of the ramp. Students will do three trials for each height. Then the students will use their ruler/meter stick to measure how far the car rolls down the ramp. After all data is collected, the students can find the average of the trials.
5. Divide students into groups of 3-4.
6. Students will grab all their materials.
7. As a group, the student will predict what they think will happen. 8. Provide time for students to build their ramps and observe the car.
9. After each group has finished and collected all their data, they will graph their findings. The students will have to make two graphs, one for the different heights and one for the different surfaces. Which car was the fastest? Why? When we changed the height of the ramp, did the speed of the car change? Why? When all the ramps were the same height, but the friction changed, did the speed of the car change too? Did one of the materials work better than the other? Why?(CFU) 10. Once each group has finished graphing, they will present their graphs to the class.

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Discuss as a group the effects of friction and gravity on an object in motion.

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Students can use different surfaces to change the friction instead of changing the friction of the ramp.

The teachers can allow the students to pick their own groups or assign the groups based on the students understanding of the topic.

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Diagnostic Assessment

Discuss what they have learned from lesson 1 of the unit. Who remembers what we discussed yesterday? What is motion? What is force? What is a push/pull? What is motion? (CFU)

Formative Assessment

Group discussion after the Defining Gravity video. What are some of the things you learned about gravity? What is gravity? Can gravity act on an object in motion? How? (CFU)

Summative Assessment

The students’ graphing their findings will be their summative assessment. The students must include all the information they gathered from the assignment as well as explain the force and friction of the car and ramp. (CFU)

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Force

Motion

Push

Pull

Gravity

Friction

Inertia

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1-2 weeks

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Students write down sentences made with these dice and state whether the sentence is true or false.

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If students are having difficulties understanding the concepts, you could give them half the definitions before moving on to the other half and you could show and discuss more examples of force being exerted on an object.

If students are mastering the concepts faster than you thought, you could have them think of objects outside of the classroom and draw a picture explaining how force affects the motion of that object.

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To close the lesson, I will bring the book back out and have a large group discussion. I will explain to the students that since we know more about forces and motion we are going to review the book to see what are some forces and motions of objects in the book(CFU).

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Diagnostic
Asking students to think about and explain what a force is and what a motion is(CFU). Asking students to explain what is happening when the ball is put into motion(CFU).

Formative
Group discussions, matching activity, & dice activity

Also see (CFU”s) under procedure section.

Summative
Digital presentation made by each group explain the objects they found around the classroom and how forces affect the objects movement.