Digital Unit Plan Goals, Objectives and Assessments

Unit Title: Forces and Motion

Name: Sara Hoffman

Content Area: Physical Science

Grade Level: 8

Next Generation Science Standards/Performance Expectations

MS-PS2-1.

Apply Newtons Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.*

MS-PS2-2.
Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an objects motion depends on the sum of
the forces on the object and the mass of the object.

Anchoring Activity

Roller coasters apply all 3 of Newton's laws of motion.

"You've been hired to create the greatest, scariest, near death experience roller coaster. Your mission is to
provide the most thrilling experience for your coaster enthusiasts without causing bodily harm or death. You
are the best in your field and the investors are giving you every resource at your disposal. Use your
knowledge of Newton's Laws of Motion to design a test to push your new roller coaster to the limits of speed
and velocity. Describe your design elements and provide the scientific reasoning behind your choices."

Driving Question of the Unit

How can a roller coaster run when it does not have an engine?

Unit Goals---Describe what you want students to be able to do. For example, I wanted my students to be able to know when to
use the epistemic practices when I gave them verbal or visual cues. Students will need to be able to recognize science even if it
is not in the verbal form. See the article Outside the Pipeline: Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists. A summary of
the article is in the appendix of this unit plan template.

Students will engage in an investigation in order to explain how Newtons Laws of Motion apply to roller
coasters. They will develop questions, research, acquire observations, apply the equation F=MA, and provide
evidence based explanations on each specific law. Students will engage in ill-structured problems, defined in
personal and practical terms, to practice using different principles and epistemic practices. Students will be
able to use this information to apply to their daily lives.
Lesson 1 [Insert Topic/Title Here]
Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Students will view several short videos

and watch the teacher demo to build
background knowledge and vocabulary to
better understand Newton's Laws of
Motion.

Formative: Students will include new vocabulary in their vocabulary

journal. Students will be presented with anchoring activity and given
an investigation guide to start research questions.
Summative: Students will show teacher 4 potential research
questions in response to the anchoring activity.

Lesson 2 [Insert Topic/Title Here]

Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Students will create an experiment

using hot wheels and various inclines
to explain Newton's third law.
Students will collect data, create a
graph, and provide explanations for
results.

Formative: Students will complete a lab activity, testing various hot

wheel cars and several different inclines with different surfaces.
Summative: Students will use an exit slip to explain, in 3 sentences,
how their experiment will affect their design ideas for their roller
coaster.

Lesson 3 [Insert Topic/Title Here]

Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Students will observe how to apply

mathematical equations to apply
Newton's second law. With a partner

Formative: Students will work with elbow partners to work on

different equations presented by the teacher. They will work together
and write answers down on a whiteboard that they will use to hold up

they will practice using equations by

providing answers on a group
whiteboard.

and show to the teacher.

Lesson 4 - [Insert Topic/Title Here]

Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Students will visit Knott's Berry Farm

and work together in small groups to
complete observations and equations.

Formative: Students complete a graphic organizer for 4 different

roller coasters.
Summative: In groups of 3-4, students will create a 3 page
powerpoint presentation on one of the roller coasters at Knott's Berry
Farm. They will pick a roller coaster and explain how it runs without
an engine. They will take pictures and or video of their coaster to
supplement their presentation. Students will need to explain where
all 3 laws of motion are taking place during the ride.

Lesson 5 - [Insert Topic/Title Here]

Student Learning Objective:

Acceptable Evidence Formative and/or Summative Assessment:

Students will apply understanding of

the laws of motion to create a model
of their own roller coaster and provide
scientific explanations for their design
plan.

Formative: Students will complete Investigation Guide by following

up with further research and providing answers to the driving
question.
Summative: Students will draw a model of their own roller coaster
and provide explanations of how the laws of motion are applied to
different aspects of their roller coaster.

Unit Summative Assessment

In groups of 3-4 students will draw a model of their thrilling roller coaster and provide evidence to explain
why their coaster is the fastest despite the fact that it does not have an engine. Students will use a rubric to
complete the model drawing.

Useful Websites:

Review: Outside the Pipeline: Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists Science, April 19, 2013.

Summary of the Article:

How People Interact with Science
Individuals have different motivations for using scientific information. Factors that influence the use of
science include social, cultural, and demographic differences. In addition, the type of science that is useful
differs from one problem or issue to another. Science comes in a variety of forms such as experimentation,
observational data or simulations or field research. One goal of science education is to facilitate student
understanding of what forms of science are best suited for the problems that we are trying to solve.
Students will need to understand that science is a flexible philosophical and methodological human
endeavor. The sub-goals of this BIG IDEA are as follows:
Students will need to understand the context of a problem to understand what type of methods are
needed
Students will understand and interpret the scientific principles that speak to the driving questions
and anchoring activities presented in the coursework. The principles will change with subject matter.
Students will engage in ill-structured problems, defined in personal and practical terms, to practice
using different principles and epistemic practices.

Knowing Science: From Knowing the Textbook to Accessing the Science you need
Science education should prepare more students to access and interpret scientific knowledge at the time
and in the context of need. Students will need to be able to read articles and the text book, draw on prior
knowledge to interpret the text, and be able to cross reference what is read with other materials. This is
not simply the application of science for a particular problem, this is reconstructing the science in valid
ways to construct solutions. When it comes to planning science for students some sub-goals of this major
goal are as follows:
To confront students with an ill-structured problem or challenge framed in an anchoring activity to
extend their existing knowledge and develop concrete solutions.
To create a learning environment where students develop the skills to recognize when and how
science is relevant in their daily lives.
To be able to cite textual based evidence to support or refute a claim (CCSS ELA)
To be able to convert a phenomena into a mathematical model (CCSS Math)
Thinking Scientifically: From Practicing Science to Judging Scientific Claims
Students will need to engage in the epistemic practices of science in flexible and creative ways. The
procedures that make up the epistemic practices of argumentation, experimentation, modeling, and the
negotiation of expository text are not static but are guided by the cycle of scientific thinking. Students will
rarely need to go through ALL the steps in a given epistemic procedure in order to engage in scientific
problem solving or research design. However, students will need to make sophisticated judgments about
credibility of scientific claims based on cues like publication venue, institutional affiliation, and potential
conflict of interest. In order to plan lesson that allow students to engage in this big idea teachers will need
to set some of the following goals:
To help students understand how scientists evaluate evidence and how research is packaged for
presentation. Engaging student in argumentation and negotiation of expository text does this. Note:
expository text will need to be presented in more ways then just the textbook.
To help students engage in peer review when teachers are planning an argument or negotiation of
expository text.

Students will engage in epistemic practices to examine a science-inflected social problem, with the
goal of uncovering epistemic and ethical nuances at the interface of science and daily life.
To help students engage in and interpret scientific text.

Appreciating Science: From Positive Feelings to Deep and Durable Involvement

Teachers will need to create learning environments where students develop an appreciation of science and
recognize how science influences their daily lives. Students will need to connect with science though
interest areas and following their personal curiosities. Therefore, some of the sub-goals of the work science
teachers do will be to:
Facilitate students pursing their own science related interest, questions, and personal curiosities
through project-based; inquiry-based; and model based learning.
Facilitate socio-scientific issue discussion in class.
Help students identify and develop individual interest and expertise in the subject matter.
Connect students with science resources in the community such as clubs, museums, projects,
science fair, and business that specialize in science outreach.
Use science-based games to facilitate student interest and curiosity for science problem solving.
Empowering students to use the epistemic practices in their everyday lives and to own the practices
for life long problem-solving.