This activity describes an experiment in which students alter and test variables that impact the effectiveness of a marshmallow launcher. Data is provided in the form of a table and two diagrams. Questions target a student's ability to identify the effect of changes in a variable upon an outcome, to identify dependent and independent variables, to interpolate and extrapolate from provided data, to understand the design of an experiment, to draw conclusions that are consistent with the provided data, and to extend the findings of an experiment to a new situation.

This NGSS-inspired task includes four activities that collectively address NGSS Performance Expectation HS-PS2-3 on the topic of momentum and impulse. Students use of Physics and Engineering principles as they consider how they might design and test a football helmet for enhanced safety. 

This activity describes the factors that affect the safe functioning of air bags. Data regarding delay time before inflation, inflation rates and inflation pressures are presented in the form of a table and a graph. Questions target a student's ability to find basic information in a body of text, to recognize patterns within a table of data, to draw conclusions that are consistent with data, to translate information from a table to a graph, to interpret the slope of a graph, and to recognize the implications of experimental findings.

 

This activity describes two experiments in which the hit-and-stick and perfectly elastic collisions of two carts on a track are investigated. Mass, pre-collision velocities, and post-collision velocities of the carts are described using two data tables. Questions target a student's ability to understand the experimental design, to identify the effect of one variable on another, to draw conclusions consistent with the data, and to interpolate and extrapolate from the given data in order to predict the result of additional trials.

This NGSS-inspired task includes four activities that collectively address NGSS Performance Expectation HS-PS2-2 on the topic of momentum conservation. Students analyze information about collisions presented in the form of diagrams, tables, and graphs in order to predict whether or not momentum is conserved and why. They will utilize a system model and reason about the effect of a net force (or lack thereof) upon the net momentum of a system of colliding objects.