Red Text and the Conceptual Physics Course Pack
In creating our Lesson Plans and Learning Outcomes for this course we have labeled some items with red text. These resources are part of a separate purchasable product, our Conceptual Physics Course Pack. The download contains source documents, answer keys, and teacher guides for 110 Think Sheets and 55 student labs.
As long as you are a teacher or homeschool parent, you may purchase this course pack ($75 US). Since this course is compatible with our Task Tracker Subscription, we are offering also a $25 (US) discount when bundling this purchase with a subscription.
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Learning Outcomes for Newton's Laws
Lesson Plans || Learning Outcomes and Activities || Teacher Notes || Labs
The list below displays sample learning objectives for the unit on Newton's Laws. The various activities from the Lesson Plans have been organized by objective. This format of organizing The Physics Classroom's activities may be more useful to some teachers than the Lesson Plan format. It is worth noting that the activities identified below only include those activities included on the Lesson Plans and in the Pre-Built Task Tracker courses. Additional activities are referenced on the Teacher Notes page.
1. Newton's First Law
Make meaning of Newton's first law by relating balanced forces to the two possible motion states (at rest and constant speed) and describe the relationship between mass and inertia.
Reading:
Video:
Labs:
Lab 1 - Pass the Water
Think Sheets:
Newton's First Law and Inertia (1)
Minds On Physics:
2. Balanced vs. Unbalanced Forces
Relate the motion that occurs (and its representation by words, dot diagrams, or kinematic graphs) to the relative size of the individual forces acting upon an object for both balanced and unbalanced force situations.
Reading:
Video:
Think Sheets:
Force and Mass - What Do You Believe? (2)
Balanced vs. Unbalanced Forces (3)
Physics Interactives with Concept Checkers:
Concept Builders:
Minds On Physics:
3. Newton's Second Law
Use Newton's second law to relate the acceleration to the net force and object mass and to predict the effect of varying net force and/or mass upon the acceleration of the object.
Reading:
Video:
Labs:
Lab 3 - F-m-a
Think Sheets:
Newton's Second Law and Proportional Reasoning (6)
Physics Interactives with Concept Checkers:
Concept Builders:
CalcPad Problem Sets:
Science Reasoning Activity:
4. Mass and Weight
Define mass and weight; describe the difference between them and use an equation to calculate one quantity from the other quantity.
Video:
Labs:
Lab 2 - Wait. Hmmm. Gee.
Think Sheets:
Mass and Weight - What Do You Believe? (4)
Mass vs. Weight (5)
Minds On Physics:
CalcPad Problem Sets:
5. Identifying Forces and Constructing Free-Body Diagrams
Identify the types of forces acting upon an object and construct a free-body diagram for the object.
Reading:
Video:
Think Sheets:
Force Help Sheet (7)
Recognizing Forces (8)
Free-Body Diagrams
Drawing Free-Body Diagrams (9)
Physics Interactives with Concept Checkers:
Concept Builders:
Minds On Physics:
6. Force Analysis
Use a free-body diagram to analyze the forces acting upon an object so as to determine the mathematical value of the acceleration or of an unknown force.
Reading:
Video:
Think Sheets:
FBDs, Net Force, and Acceleration (10)
Net Force and Acceleration (11)
Newton's Second Law Problems (12)
CalcPad Problem Sets:
7. Skydiving and Terminal Velocity
Describe the factors that affect the amount of air resistance and use such understanding to describe the changes in net force, acceleration, and velocity for a falling skydiver.
Reading:
Video:
Labs:
Lab 4 - Coffee Filter Skydivers Lab
Think Sheets:
Skydiving and Terminal Velocity (13)
Physics Interactives with Concept Checkers:
Minds On Physics:
CalcPad Problem Sets:
Newton's Laws 5 on Net Force and Vertical Acceleration (some problems are skydiving problems)
8. Newton's Third Law
Understand the nature of a force to be the result of an interaction between two obects, identify the action-reaction force pairs for any given interaction, and compare the relative magnitude and direction of the two forces in the force pair.
Reading:
Video:
Think Sheets:
Newton's Third Law (14)
Minds On Physics:
Review Activities:
CalcPad:
Newton's Laws 9 on Review of Newton's Laws Mathematics (Review of entire unit's math)
Also Available ...
Physics teachers may find the following
for-sale tools to be useful supplements to our Lesson Plan and Pacing Guide section:
- Task Tracker Subscription (annual purchase)
A subscription allows teachers to set up classes, add students, customize online assignments, view student progress/scores, and export student scores. Task Tracker accounts allow your students to begin assignments in class or at school and to finish them at home. View our Seat and Cost Calculator for pricing details.
- The Solutions Guide
We publish a free curriculum with >200 ready-to-use Think Sheets for developing physics concepts. The Solutions Guide is a download containing the source documents, PDFs of source documents, and answers/solutions in MS Word and PDF format. An expanded license agreement is included with the purchase. (Cost: $25 download)
- Teacher Presentation Pack
This is a large collection of downloadable content packed with nearly 190 Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks, the corresponding Lesson Notes (as PDF and fully-modifiable MS Word format), about 170 animations (in .gif, .png, and .mp4 file formats), a countless number of ready-to-use images (including the original source documents that would allow for easy modification of those images), and a license that allows teachers to modify and use all the content with their classes on password-protected sites (such as course management systems). (Cost: $40 download)
- Question Bank
We distribute a Question Bank that includes more than 9300 questions neatly organized according to topic. The Question Bank is the perfect tool for busy teachers or new teachers. Even if you don't use the website with your classes, the Question Bank will assist you in quickly putting together quizzes, tests and other documents with high-quality questions that target student's conceptions of physics principles. And if you do use The Physics Classroom website, the Question Bank is the perfect complement to the materials found at the website. (Cost: $25 download)