What's Up (and Down) with KE and PE

The What's Up (and Down) with KE and PE Concept Builder is a tool that challenges the learner to use an understanding of kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy in order to analyze a physical situation and to determine if the KE and the PE increases, decreases, or remains the same. Learners must read carefully, looking for verbal cues within the problem in order to determine what is occuring to the KE and the PE over the course of the motion. There are 12 different situations to analyze and three ability levels. Each situation requires that the learner use an understanding of kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy, and elastic potential energy in order to identify the form(s) of mechanical energy that the object possesses. Question-specific help is provided for each of the 12 situations. Use of this Concept Builder with our Task Tracker system allows teachers to track student progress.
 

Launch Concept Builder

Users are encouraged to open the Concept Builder and explore. There is no need for an activity sheet for this Concept Builder. However, the 12 different groups of questions can be printed. View Questions (For Teachers Only)​.

Learners and Instructors may also be interested in viewing the accompanying Notes page. Technical information, teaching suggestions, and related resources that complement this Concept Builder are provided on the Notes page. View Notes.