Stored and Moving: Kinetic and Potential Energy

Student Task

• Start with a demonstration: hold a ball still above the desk, then drop it. Ask when it had stored energy and when it had energy of motion.
• Teach kinetic and potential energy, the factors that change each one and energy transformations, then do activities 1 and 2 together.
• Students read the text and complete activities 3 to 6. Answers are in the answer key.

Classroom Use

• Ramp race: roll a toy car down a ramp from three heights and measure how far it travels across the floor.
• Pendulum swing: tie a washer to a string and mark where it moves fastest and where it stops for a moment.
• Rubber band launch: stretch a rubber band different amounts and measure how far it flies, linking more stretch to more stored energy.

Differentiation

Support: give a two-column chart (kinetic | potential) with picture examples and a word bank, and read the text aloud. Challenge: explain why a bouncing ball never returns to its starting height (some energy changes to sound and heat) and design a ramp test with one variable changed.

Answer Key & Assessment

Activities 1 to 5 check definitions, factors and energy transformations (answer key included). Activity 6 checks explaining energy changes with scientific vocabulary.

Learning Objectives

• Define kinetic and potential energy and give examples of each.
• Explain how mass and speed affect kinetic energy, and how mass and height affect gravitational potential energy.
• Describe energy transformations between potential and kinetic energy and state the law of conservation of energy.

Teacher Tips

Use the same ball all lesson. Hold it still (all potential), drop it (potential changing to kinetic), and catch it just before the floor (mostly kinetic). Ask students to point up for potential and sideways for kinetic at each moment to keep them actively thinking.

What's Included

• 7-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
• Key vocabulary list (6 words with meanings and examples)
• Student worksheet (6 activities)
• Editable Word version of the worksheet
• Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)

Additional Files

• Editable Worksheet (DOCX)
• Answer Key (PDF)

Teacher Reviews