Teacher Notes for Momentum and Collisions

 

Lesson Plans || Learning Outcomes and Activities || Teacher Notes || Labs

 

Unit Overview

We estimate this to be a 10-day unit. An additional day should be added for an exam. There are two primary goals for this time:
 

1. To understand the concepts of a momentum change and an impulse and to relate these two quantities to one another in order to predict a numerical value of force, time, mass, or velocity change and to predict the impact that a change in a collision parameter will have upon the collision force.
2. To use momentum conservation to analyze a collision or an explosion occurring in an isolated system to predict an unknown collision parameter or the effect of a change in mass or speed upon the outcome of the collision or explosion.

 

Physics Interactives

We love our simulation section and it has become quite popular in the past decade. The blending of a simulation with a Student Activity sheet and a Concept Checker opens the door for some engaging lesson plans. We have suggested the use of three simulations with the corresponding Student Activity sheet and Concept Checker. Our original vision for how this triad of tools would be used goes something like this:
 

 

Labs

We have suggested a number of labs. Most require the use of motion detectors. In situations where motion detectors are not available, our Teacher Guides include some ideas for alternative procedures. See our Labs page for links to the Teacher Guides.


 

Science Reasoning Center

We have several Momentum and Collisions activities at our Science Reasoning Center. These provide a slightly different approach than Concept Builders or Minds On Physics. They tend to emphasize less conceptual development and more scientific processing, data interpretation, experimental analysis, etc. They often make great follow-ups to labs and can sometimes be used as an introduction to a topic. For most topics, they are great accompaniments to an NGSS curriculum. Check out our Marshmallow Launcher, our Engineering Safer Helmets, and our Collisions activities as examples. If you have a Task Tracker subscription, visit the Teacher Resources section in order to quickly preview the activity and navigate through all the questions. You will also find information there about NGSS alignments.



 

Other Resources

There are a few resources that we did not list in our Lesson Plans and Learning Outcomes and Activities that you may find to be very helpful. These include:
 

1. Physics Interactives: Egg Drop
   This simulated egg drop activity allows a learner to explore the variables that result in a safe landing or a fractured or broken egg. The accompanying activity sheet emphasizes the use of science reasoning skills to understand the physics behind an egg drop activity.
2. CalcPad: Momentum Problem Sets
   We have 15 problem sets in the Momentum section of the Calculator Pad. We created five custom problem sets from these 15 sets. There are so many more problems we didn't use. Teachers may find something that is perfect for their need. If you have a Task Tracker subscription you can easily create your own problem set or edit the five that we have made.

 

Teacher Presentation Pack

Here we go again ... throwing in an advertisement in the middle of a Teacher Notes page. But while we are advertising a for-sale item, we are also promoting an item that will potentially save the buyer a load of time. It's our Teacher Presentation Pack. It's a well-worth-the-cost tool for any Physics teacher. But for the early-career and cross-over Physics teacher, it's a life saver ... or at least a time saver. It includes a large collection of Slide Decks, Lesson Notes, animations, and graphics for use in your classroom. Once downloaded, you can modify and customize the Slide Decks as needed. The slides are highly organized and (mostly) graphical; they make great graphic organizers for any student, and especially for the struggling student. Learn more.





 

Also Available ...

Physics teachers may find the following for-sale tools to be useful supplements to our Lesson Plan and Pacing Guide section:

 

1. 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.
    
2. 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)
    
3. 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)
    
4. 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)