Science Reasoning Center - Newton's Laws

There were three Newton's Laws passages in the Legacy version that targeted students' science reasoning abilities. They have each been converted to a Version 2 activity. We have included the links below:

Cart, Bricks and Bands
This passage describes a simple experimental design exploring the effect of varying mass and varying force upon an object's acceleration. Data is presented in the form of two figures and two tables. Questions target a student's ability to understand the experimental design, to identify appropriate conclusions that are consistent with the data, to select data from the provided set, to extrapolate from the provided data to predict the result of additional trials, to recognize proportional and numerical relationships, and to identify the graphical representations of the data.


Friction
This passage describes a complex set of three experiments exploring the effect of several variables upon the amount of friction experienced by a wooden block dragged across a surface. Data is presented in the form of three different data tables. Questions target a student's ability to understand the experimental design, to recognize the effect of one variable on another, to extrapolate from the provided data in order to predict the result of conducting additional trials, and to represent the data in the form of a graph.


Coffee Filter Physics Lab
This passage describes a complex experiment that explores the changes in velocity over time for falling coffee filters. The effect of the number of filters upon the terminal speed is also investigated. Data is presented in the form of a diagram, two graphs and a data table. Questions target a student's ability to make meaning of written information, to select and interpret data presented in graphs and tables, and to identify conclusions that are consistent with experimental findings.