Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  Model Eliciting Activity (MEA)

• Formative Assessment

  
  

  The teacher will be able to check on student understanding of forces by asking students to write down what forces are present on a falling object? Throw a ball into the air and ask students to describe and draw the forces shown. You may want to give the students a word bank to help them describe forces better. Word bank may include words like: contact, non contact, gravity, air resistance, weight, friction.

  Students should be able to state that all objects experience gravity. Gravity is constant for all falling object absent of air resistance. Greater surface area means more air resistance and friction with air. Show this with a sheet of paper and a textbook. Then place the sheet of paper on top of the textbook and let them fall. Have students explain their observations in a science journal.

• Feedback to Students

  
  

  Feedback will be given to the students throughout the lesson. At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher will be able to assess key understanding through questioning and modeling gravity and forces. Students will be able to discuss the different types of forces modeled by the teacher. Be sure to check for proper understanding.

  When the lesson starts, the students will once again receive teacher feedback after readings, presentation of reading supplement, and throughout the investigation. Teacher should meet independently with students to assist with parachute building, materials, and understanding of science concepts. Either a verbal or written feedback should be given to students throughout the process to ensure that the students are understanding the investigation and progressing in their thinking.

  Students will receive a rubric that will be used by the teacher to evaluate their final product. Parachute Rubric

• Summative Assessment

  
  

  Teacher will use a Parachute Rubric to assess parachute design, effectiveness, and how well it meets the client's needs.

  In addition, the teacher may will give students a short quiz that will focus on all learned science concepts.

  Possible questions:

  1. How are contact forces different fromnoncontact forces?
     • Contact forces are forces that act at a given point between two objects that are in direct contact.
  2. In the parachute activity, the findings show that the greater the ________, the more air resistance and slower drop will be experienced.
     • Surface area
  3. Weight is dependent on mass and ______________.
     • Gravity
  4. Without air resistance, all objects fall to the earth at the (same rate/different rate).
     • Same rate
  5. The four universal forces include:
     • Electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, and gravity.
  6. Identify contact forces and non contact forces.
     • Contact forces include friction, air resistance, buoyancy.
     • Non contact forces include electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, and gravity.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will:

  • analyze details in readings to apply learned content in design.
  • investigate and describe types of forces.
  • explore the Law of Gravity.
  • investigate and describe unbalanced forces.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students needs to have basic understanding of a force. A force is a push or a pull.

• Instructional Suggestions

  
  

  Day 1:

  • The teacher should review forces before starting this lesson. Start with an essential question: What is a force? List on the board some of the forces the students know.
  • Show students one of the Related CPALMS Resources if you would like, or present them with a reading assignment.
  • After reading the text, have students revisit the list and add new forces they have learned about.
  • Begin lesson with a simple demonstration of paper and textbook. Ask students to hypothesize which will hit the floor first, then drop both objects. Ask students to draw and explain their observations. As a class, ask what explanations they have for their observations. If they do not talk about air resistance, you may choose to show a clip of the Apollo 15 Feather and Hammer Drop (see Additional Instructions or Materials). Explain the four universal non-contact forces: electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, and gravity.
  • Present students with Letter 1. Remind students to apply knowledge learned from the reading in their design. Supply students with coffee filters or plastic bags, string and a weight. Go over the four models. The BBC site listed in Additional Instructions or Materials shows students dropping parachutes in a classroom. This is a great time to revisit vocabulary such as gravity, air resistance, and weight.
  • Have students write a letter in which they will report their findings and provides evidence to their claim and reasoning. After experimenting on design, students should come away with a basic understanding that greater surface area experience greater air resistance.

  Day 2:

  • Present students with Letter 2.
  • Have students write a letter in which they will report their findings and provide evidence to support their claim and reasoning.
  • Use the rubric to evaluate students' designs.

• Supplemental Reading

  
  

  Types of Forces (Lexile 8.5) - This reading is a great way to have students learn about the different types of forces they will encounter in their parachute investigation. The information was taken from The Physics Classroom and edited for greater clarity. Students will be able to understand forces better after reading and discussing with the teacher the information in the reading and apply their new knowledge into their parachute design.

  How Does a Parachute Work? (Lexile 9.7) - This is a great website for students to read about the science behind parachutes.

  History of Parachutes (Lexile 9.8) - Great reading for students interested in the origins of parachutes.

  Playing with Parachutes (Lexile 6.8) - This website offers wonderful background information for the students.

  Parachutes (Lexile Score 5.7) - This website will offer students ideas on how to make a parachute.

• Guiding/reflective Questions

  
  
  1. What are contact forces? non-contact forces?
     • Contact forces are forces that acts at a point of contact between two objects, such as friction, air resistance, normal force, and buoyant force.
     • Non-contact forces are forces applied to an object by another body that is not in direct contact with it, such as electromagnetic, gravity, strong nuclear forces, and weak nuclear forces.
  2. What is a net force?
     • Net forces are the overall force acting on an object.
  3. In a vacuum, all falling objects fall...
     • at the same rate. (constant for gravity 9.8 m/s²)
  4. Does weight affect falling rate?
     • In a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate, regardless of their weight. However, on Earth there is air resistance, so objects accelerate as they fall. As the object speeds up, the rate of acceleration slows until the object reaches terminal velocity. If you reduce the weight of something, then it will fall slower; if you increase weight, then it will fall faster.
  5. How does surface area affect dropping rate of a parachute?
     • The greater the surface area of the parachute, the greater the air resistance or drag force, so the parachute slows down as it falls.

• Reading Passage 1

  
  

  Reading Passage 1

• Readiness Questions

  
  
  1. What are contact forces? non-contact forces?
     • Contact forces are forces that acts at a point of contact between two objects, such as friction, air resistance, normal force, and buoyant force.
     • Non-contact forces are forces applied to an object by another body that is not in direct contact with it, such as electromagnetic, gravity, strong nuclear forces, and weak nuclear forces.
  2. What is a net force?
     • Net forces are the overall force acting on an object.
  3. In a vacuum, all falling objects fall...
     • at the same rate. (constant for gravity 9.8 m/s²)
  4. Does weight affect falling rate?
     • In a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate, regardless of their weight. However, on Earth there is air resistance, so objects accelerate as they fall. As the object speeds up, the rate of acceleration slows until the object reaches terminal velocity. If you reduce the weight of something, then it will fall slower; if you increase weight, then it will fall faster.
  5. How does surface area affect dropping rate of a parachute?
     • The greater the surface area of the parachute, the greater the air resistance or drag force, so the parachute slows down as it falls.

• Data Set 1

  
  

  You may want to give this data set to students only if they are having a difficult time thinking of a design.

  Parachute Models

• Letter Template 1

  
  

  Dear Mr. Booing,

  Our team, ____________________________________________, has determined the following procedure for ranking the best parachute model for your company:

  From least to best model they are: (Draw model with dimensions)

  We believe this is the best model for you because:

  These are the procedures we obtained in order to test our models:

  Sincerely,

  _____________________________________________

• Comprehension/readiness questions

  
  
  1. What are contact forces? non-contact forces?
     • Contact forces are forces that acts at a point of contact between two objects, such as friction, air resistance, normal force, and buoyant force.
     • Non-contact forces are forces applied to an object by another body that is not in direct contact with it, such as electromagnetic, gravity, strong nuclear forces, and weak nuclear forces.
  2. What is a net force?
     • Net forces are the overall force acting on an object.
  3. In a vacuum, all falling objects fall...
     • at the same rate. (constant for gravity 9.8 m/s²)
  4. Does weight affect falling rate?
     • In a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate, regardless of their weight. However, on Earth there is air resistance, so objects accelerate as they fall. As the object speeds up, the rate of acceleration slows until the object reaches terminal velocity. If you reduce the weight of something, then it will fall slower; if you increase weight, then it will fall faster.
  5. How does surface area affect dropping rate of a parachute?
     • The greater the surface area of the parachute, the greater the air resistance or drag force, so the parachute slows down as it falls.

• Reading Passage 2

  
  

  Reading Passage 2

• Data Set 2

  
  

  .

• Letter Template 2

  
  

  Dear Mr. Booing,

  Our team, ____________________________________________, has determined the following procedure for ranking the best parachute material for your company:

  From best to worst material, they are:

  We believe this is the best material for you because:

  These are the procedures we developed for our tests:

  Sincerely,

  _____________________________________________

• Additional Instructions or Materials

  
  

  Apollo 15 Feather and Hammer Drop on the Moon

  BBC KS2 Bitesize: Forces

• Reflection question 2

  
  
  1. How are Newton's Laws of Motion observed in this activity?
  2. Draw and label all net forces acting on the parachute.