Motion and Force Explorations

Students in eighth grade Physical Science have been focusing on foundational concepts in physics through active exploration of motion and forces in labs, projects, and classroom activities this fall.

As they began a recent unit on force, weight, and gravity, students were challenged to build the tallest tower possible out of pasta strands and tape that could support a marshmallow. Students worked in groups to design and build their structures, paying particular attention to the impact of mass, weight, and gravity throughout the process. As students built their structures higher, they could see the impact of gravity as an external force, the addition of a static load (the marshmallow), and the internal forces of compression and tension that are increased by the addition of the marshmallow. This inquiry-based learning activity focused on collaboration, prototyping, the design process, and how adding force, in this case, weight, impacts a structure. 

Students also completed Motion Graph projects this month, where they used storytelling to demonstrate their understanding of velocity and position and how they differ from speed and distance. The project requires students to write a story with two main characters, each visiting at least five locations along a number line of destinations. Students can create any setting for their story, from a pirate tale on the high seas to the seven wonders of the world, and are encouraged to harness their creativity to tell and illustrate their story. To express their understanding of velocity moving in a particular direction, students must have two main characters start at the same location in the story. They can only travel together on one leg of their journey, have to be traveling at different speeds, and must travel to “positive” and “negative” locations from the starting point. The stories must use reasonable distance, speed, and time values while incorporating appropriate stopping times at each site. Each character’s movements also had to make sense along a visual number line map and correlate to a position vs. time graph and a velocity vs. time graph. The project’s final product was a poster board with the story, location map, and graphs clearly, accurately, and creatively arranged. This project tests students’ understanding of the velocity equation and their logic and organization skills as they ensure that the text, numbers, and graphs all tell the same story.