Learning Outcomes for Work and Energy

 

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

 

The list below displays sample learning objectives for the unit on Work and Energy. 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. Work

Define work, identify the units of work, describe the variables that affect the amount of work, and identify situations in which work is and is not done on an object; calculate the work done  on an object.
 

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2. Power

Define power and describe how it is related to and different than the work done on an object; identify the units of power and calculate the power for a given situation.
 

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3. Kinetic, Potential, and Mechanical Energy

Define kinetic energy (KE) and potential energy (PE), identify the variables that affect the amount of KE and PE and the manner in which the variables do affect KE and PE; relate KE and PE to the total mechanical energy (TME) and calculate the amounts of KE, PE, and TME when give sufficient information.
 

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4. Conservative and Non-Conservative Forces

Distinguish between work done by conservative forces and non-conservative forces and their effect upon the total mechanical energy of the system.
 

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5. Work-Energy Bar Charts

Construct a work-energy bar chart for a physical situation to describe how the various forms of energy and the total system energy changes or remains constant over the course of a motion.
 

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6. Energy Analysis (Non-Conservative Forces doing Net Work)

Analyze situations - both conceptually and mathematically - in which non-conservative forces are doing net work in order to describe the energy changes that occur within the system and between the system and the surroundings.
 

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7. Energy Analysis (Non-Conservative Forces NOT doing Work)

Analyze situations - both conceptually and mathematically - in which non-conservative forces are NOT doing net work in order to describe how the various forms of energy of the system change and remain constant over the course of a motion.
 

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Review Activities

 

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)