Grade 4 Lesson 1 Item

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Lesson Plan

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Student Activity Handout Page 5

Marlins Think Tank: Fourth Grade

Lesson Plan #1

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OBJECTIVE. What is your objective?

KEY POINTS. What knowledge and skills are embedded in the objective?

Motion is a key characteristic of all matter that can be observed, described, and measured.

The motion of objects can be changed by forces.

SC.4.P.10.1 - Observe and describe some basic forms of energy, including light, heat, sound, electrical, and the energy of motion.

SC.4.P.12.1 - Recognize that an object in motion always changes its position and may change its direction.

SC.4.P.12.2 - Determine which object can travel farther according to its mass.

Forms of Energy

• Energy is involved in all physical processes and is a unifying concept in many areas of science.

• Energy exists in many forms and has the ability to do work or cause a change.

• Kinetic (energy in motion) and potential (stored energy)

Motion of Objects

• Investigate and describe that the speed of an object is determined by the distance it travels in a unit of time, and that objects can move at different speeds.

ASSESSMENT. Describe, briefly, what students will do to show you that they have mastered (or made progress toward) the objective. Students will make observations, collect data, and analyze data.

OPENING (10 min.) How will you communicate what is about to happen? How will you communicate how it will happen? How will you communicate its importance? How will you communicate connections to previous lessons? How will you engage students and capture their interest?

Energy and motion are involved in your everyday life. Energy can be in the form of kinetic energy (energy in motion) or potential energy (stored energy). Examples of kinetic energy include moving water, wind, and electricity. Examples of potential energy include natural gas (coal, gasoline) and nuclear energy. Energy can be electrical, mechanical, gravitational, or chemical. Ask the students: “What are some forms of energy you have come in contact with today?” Motion is another scientific principle that affects your day to day life. There are principles that affect motion and can change the direction or position of an object. Energy and motion are two very important principles in baseball as well! The different principles of energy and motion affect how far a hit ball travels, how fast a player runs the bases, or if a player is able to field a ball and make an out.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW MATERIAL (10 min.) How will you explain/demonstrate all knowledge/skills required of the objective so that students begin to actively internalize key points? Which potential misunderstandings do you anticipate? How will you proactively mitigate them? How will students interact with the material?

Introduction: Ask students the following: If I asked you to throw both a baseball and a soccer ball, which do you think you could throw farther? Have students make predictions. Identify the Problem: Can we really throw lighter objects farther than heavy objects?

Explain: When you throw an object, physics is at work calculating just how far it goes. The distance an object is thrown relies on the force put into it. Force is the mass of an object multiplied by how fast that object accelerates.

When throwing a very light object, you may be able to accelerate it very effectively, but because it weighs so little, the force applied to it will be tiny.

When throwing a heavy object, sometimes only a small force ends up being applied to it, which explains the extremely short throwing distance traveled by the soccer ball.

So what’s the key to throwing things great distances? A balance between mass and acceleration, which is why the baseball travels the farthest.

What if you used different shapes of objects? Or used something to launch your objects besides your arm?

Student notebooks

GUIDED PRACTICE (10 min.) How will students practice all knowledge/skills required of the objective, with your support, such that they continue to internalize the key points? How will you ensure that students have multiple opportunities to practice, with exercises ranged from easy to hard?

MATERIALS

In order to demonstrate the material in the previous section, the teacher will run a quick test using a soccer ball and a baseball. The teacher will ask the students to predict which ball the teacher can throw further.

For the demonstration, ensure that there is appropriate space (activity can be conducted outside). First, the teacher will throw the baseball as far as they can and the students will measure the distance. Next, the teacher will throw the soccer ball and the students will again measure the distance traveled.

Once each item has been thrown, the class will join back together to discuss the results.

Which ball went further? Why?

Baseball Soccer ball Student notebooks

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE (10 min.) How will students independently practice the knowledge and skills required of the objective, such that they solidify their internalization of the key points prior to the lesson assessment?

MATERIALS

Procedures:

• Hold the baseball, marble, and soccer ball in your hands, observing each item’s weight. Order them from lightest to heaviest in your notebook.

o Which do you think you will throw the farthest? Use this time to write down your guess, also called a hypothesis, in your notebook.

• Find an outdoor area or field so that the objects you throw don’t break when they hit the ground.

• Throw the marble as hard as you can. • Measure and record the distance in your notebook. • Repeat the steps with the baseball and soccer ball, noting the distance traveled in your

notebook. • Look over your data. Did the results match your hypothesis?

Marble Baseball Soccer Ball Student Activity Handout

Lesson Assessment: Once students have had an opportunity to practice independently, how will they attempt to demonstrate mastery of the knowledge/skills required of the objective? Students will gather and analyze data. CLOSING (5 min.) How will students summarize and state the significance of what they learned?

Student created charts.

Name: _____________________________

Student Activity Handout: Lab

Items Weight

(Rank 1-Heaviest, 2-Middle, 3-Lightest)

Distance Traveled

Marble

Baseball

Soccer Ball

Which item do you think you will throw the farthest? (Hypothesis) Which item did you throw the farthest? Did it match your hypothesis? Why do you think your hypothesis was correct or incorrect?