A realistic mass and spring laboratory. Hang masses from springs and adjust the spring stiffness and damping. You can even slow time. Transport the lab to different planets. A chart shows the kinetic, potential, and thermal energy for each spring.

Students learn about slope, determining slope, distance vs. time graphs through a motion-filled activity. Working in teams with calculators and CBL motion detectors, students attempt to match the provided graphs and equations with the output from the detector displayed on their calculators.

Learn about position, velocity, and acceleration in the "Arena of Pain". Use the green arrow to move the ball. Add more walls to the arena to make the game more difficult. Try to make a goal as fast as you can.

Students learn why and how motion occurs and what governs changes in motion, as described by Newton's three laws of motion. They gain hands-on experience with the concepts of forces, changes in motion, and action and reaction. In an associated literacy activity, students design a behavioral survey and learn basic protocol for primary research, survey design and report writing.

Introducing the motion and relative position unit with this engaging and
interactive lesson allows students to demonstrate their understanding of
relative position. Being a new teacher to the Sun West School Division, I
wanted to submit an artifact that included most of the 21st century
competencies focused on within the division thus far. Within this
introduction lesson, students will use their creativity and collaboration skills
to create a collage that demonstrates their understanding of relative
position. Since students are using technology to complete the learning
activity, they are also practicing their digital citizenship skills. The digital
citizenship elements that are addressed within this lesson are: digital access
(element of respect) and digital rights and responsibilities (element of
protect). Students are demonstrating an understanding that using
technology is a right, not a privilege and that they must work together on
the IPads to complete a task. Students will also demonstrate an
understanding that the IPads are being used as a learning tool, so they must
only use them as instructed.

The focus of this unit is to introduce the concepts of force and motion. Specifically this unit will address the forces of push, pull, gravity, and work. It also introduces students to the concepts of friction and slope. The unit begins with an introduction to the scientific method and addresses the differences between scientists and engineers. Students will be both scientists and engineers while completing this unit.

Student engineers learn to understand force and motion and how it is effected by slope, design and weight carried.

Learn about position, velocity, and acceleration graphs. Move the little man back and forth with the mouse and plot his motion. Set the position, velocity, or acceleration and let the simulation move the man for you.

Build your own system of heavenly bodies and watch the gravitational ballet. With this orbit simulator, you can set initial positions, velocities, and masses of 2, 3, or 4 bodies, and then see them orbit each other.

In this lesson, students will explore motion, rockets and rocket motion while assisting Spacewoman Tess, Spaceman Rohan and Maya in their explorations. They will first learn some basic facts about vehicles, rockets and why we use them. Then, the students will discover that the motion of all objects including the flight of a rocket and movement of a canoe is governed by Newton's three laws of motion.

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate Newton's third law of motion which states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction through a small wooden car. The Newton cars show how action/reaction works and how the mass of a moving object affects the acceleration and force of the system. Subsequently, the Newton cars provide students with an excellent analogy for how rockets actually work.

Play with a 1D or 2D system of coupled mass-spring oscillators. Vary the number of masses, set the initial conditions, and watch the system evolve. See the spectrum of normal modes for arbitrary motion. See longitudinal or transverse modes in the 1D system.

Play with one or two pendulums and discover how the period of a simple pendulum depends on the length of the string, the mass of the pendulum bob, and the amplitude of the swing. It's easy to measure the period using the photogate timer. You can vary friction and the strength of gravity. Use the pendulum to find the value of g on planet X. Notice the anharmonic behavior at large amplitude.

PhET Sims are now available in HTML5 as well!

Simulations can be sorted by subject area or grade. This is very helpful.

PhET is a collection of interactive computer simulations for teaching and learning physics, chemistry, math, and other sciences.

Simulations can be used directly on the site or downloaded and used that way.

The simulations are animated, interactive, and game-like environments where students learn through exploration. They emphasize the connections between real-life and the underlying science. These great activities help students visualize abstract concepts!

A wealth of resources for teaching and learning about physics!

Tutorials, interactives, videos, multimedia info, concept builders, concept checkers, question bank HELP and more!

This 10-minute video lesson looks at Newton's First Law (Galileo's Law of Inertia).

In this activity, students will learn about Newton's 2nd Law of Motion. They will learn that the force required to move a book is proportional to the weight of the book. Engineers use this relationship to determine how much force they need to move an airplane.

Students design and build paper rockets around film canisters, which serve as engines. An antacid tablet and water are put into each canister, reacting to form carbon dioxide gas, and acting as the pop rocket's propellant. With the lid snapped on, the continuous creation of gas causes pressure to build up until the lid pops off, sending the rocket into the air. The pop rockets demonstrate Newton's third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.