Inertia! It Can Hurt Ya!

Class Description: There are 24 students in this 6th grade standard Science Class. There are 13

girls and 11 boys with a mixture of Caucasian, African American and Hispanic ethnicities. While

there are no students with IEP’s or 504 plans, possible accommodations are included for visual

cues, text aloud and chunking of assignments.

Unit: Forces and Motion

Lesson Topic: Newton’s First Law of Motion

Prior Knowledge: The students have just learned that objects with a change in motion are

caused by unbalanced forces while objects with no change in motion are due to balanced forces.

Alignment:

Standard Objective Assessment Activity(ies)

NGSS MS-PS2-2: Students will be able Students will complete Students will
Plan an investigation to analyze data in a short exit ticket on participate in two lab
to provide evidence order to explain how BCPS One consisting investigations and
that the change in an Newton’s First Law of various questions explain the results of
object’s motion can be used to relating Newton’s First each lab using
depends on the sum describe motion. Law of Motion Newton’s First Law
of the forces on the (inertia) to the motion of Motion.
object and the mass of an object.
of the object.

Materials Needed: student laptop devices; prepared PowerPoint, projector/screen; prepared

Kahoot questions; prepared exit ticket assessment questions; “Inertia It Can Hurt Ya!” worksheet

(1 per student); “Intertia It Can Hurt Ya! Procedures” worksheet (1 per student); toy car (15);

metal washers (70); textbook (15); index card (30); plastic cup (15); pennies (200)

Technology Integration/Needs: The teacher will use the computer to display previously

prepared slides in a PowerPoint while utilizing the projector to display image on the screen. The
students will each have their own laptop device to complete the warm-up and exit ticket

assessment.

Lesson Procedure:

Introduction Activity:

Time Allotted: 10 minutes

Description: The teacher will ask the students to open their devices and log onto

Kahoot.it and type in the corresponding code. Once the students have done so, the teacher

will begin the Kahoot game – a review on balanced and unbalanced forces, reading aloud

the question and answer choices for each question as the game progresses. If many

students get a question incorrect, the teacher may choose to pause the game for a moment

to discuss the question.

Adaptations: The teacher will have the instructions written in the PowerPoint. The

teacher will also read aloud each question on the screen as the students participate in the

Kahoot activity.

Transition: The teacher will ask the students to “please put away your devices while I

pass out the lab worksheets for today”. The teacher will hand out the “Inertia It Can Hurt

Ya!” worksheet to each student.

First Main Activity:

Time Allotted: 15 minutes

Description: The teacher will ask a student volunteer to read the objective for the day.

The teacher will briefly explain how “we have just learned about describing motion as a

balanced or unbalanced force. Now we are going to discover Newton’s First Law of

motion to describe forces in another way”. The teacher will ask the students to read
 investigation 1 and complete question # 2. After taking a quick poll on what students

predict will happen to the washers and pennies, the teacher will briefly remind students of

lab behavior, procedures and expectations, then have the students go to their assigned lab

station (working in pairs or groups of 3) and conduct the first investigation and come

back to their seats when they have finished. The lab stations have already previously been

set up by the teacher before the beginning of class. The teacher will set a timer to

approximately 3 minutes. Once the timer is up, all remaining students will return to their

seats and complete question 4 on their worksheet.

Adaptations: The teacher will have the instructions written in the PowerPoint and read

aloud questions on the screen. Teacher will include visual snapshots of the various

sections of the worksheets in the PowerPoint for the students to visually see which

section of the worksheets are being referred to. During lab investigations, the teacher may

individually assist students in reading procedures as needed.

Transition: As the students are finishing their response to question # 4 on the “Inertia It

Can Hurt Ya!” worksheet, the teacher will tell the students to “begin reading the

procedures for the second investigation”.

Second Main Activity:

Time Allotted: 15 minutes

Description: Once the students have returned to their seats and answered question 4 on

the worksheet, the teacher will read the set of text in Activity 2 from the worksheet aloud

to the class. Afterwards, the teacher will have a brief discussion on the reading, asking

students questions such as “so what did we just learn Newton’s First Law says?” and

“what exactly is inertia?”. After the discussion, the teacher will ask the students to use
 what they just learned/discussed to answer question 5. The teacher will give the students

a few minutes to respond to the question before asking a few students to share and

discuss their responses. Afterwards, the teacher will ask the students to read investigation

2 and answer question 7. The teacher will poll the students again to see what students

predict will happen in the second investigation, and then allow the students five minutes

to conduct the investigation at the same assigned lab station. When the students return to

their seats, they will complete questions 9 and 10. When the majority of the class has

completed question 10, the teacher will ask the students to share their answers.

Adaptations: The teacher will have the instructions written in the PowerPoint and read

aloud questions on the screen. Teacher will include visual snapshots of the various

sections of the worksheets in the PowerPoint for the students to visually see which

section of the worksheets are being referred to. During lab investigations, the teacher may

individually assist students in reading procedures as needed.

Transition: The teacher will ask the students “while you are waiting for others to finish

editing their final response, please get out your devices and log onto BCPS One

test/quizzes and then clam close the device”.

Closing Activity:

Time Allotted: 10 minutes

Description: The teacher will have a quick review discussion with the entire class of

what the students learned today, asking the following questions: “what is Newton’s First

Law?” and “what is inertia?”. Afterwards, the teacher will have the students open their

devices to BCPS One test/quizzes and take exit ticket titled “7 Inertia”.
 Adaptations: The teacher will have the questions and answers on the PowerPoint during

the review session. The teacher will also include the written instructions for the exit ticket

assessment on the board as well.

Safety Valve: If there is extra time, the teacher will show the students an animated 5 minute

video that highlights the main ideas of Newton’s First Law. This video may be helpful for audio

and visual learners to connect the concepts learned in the lab investigation to the real world. The

video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEHR8YQNm_Q&t=193s.