Gena Richardson

EDU 201
Lesson Plan
Fall 2019

(1) Name of lesson

Marble Roller Coaster
(2) Grade Level
Third Grade
(3) Suggested group size
Cooperative Groups
(4) Subject
Science
(5) Standard
P5C Students understand that energy exists in different forms.
(6) Objective
Students will be able to tell the difference between potential and kinetic energy.
Students will be able to describe what causes potential energy to change into kinetic
energy and vice versa.
(7) Materials
Marble Run building set
Marbles
Science Notebook
Pencil
Colored Pencils
Clipboard
(8) Procedures
Start off by asking the children if the have ever been on a roller coaster. Continue
asking them a few more questions...What differences do some have and what are some
things they have that are they same? What kind of things make up a fun roller coaster?
Do they like the loops or do they like the twists and turns of a roller coaster?
Next start talking about energy. Ask them a few more questions...What is energy?
Where does the energy come from? How many kinds of energy are there? What are the
different kinds of energy? Explain to the children that energy is the ability to do work and
that energy comes from all different sources like the sun, wind and even the muscles in
our bodies.
Tell the class that today we will be learning about Potential and Kinetic Energy. Ask
them what they think potential energy is? What is kinetic energy? What is the difference
between the two?
Give the class the definition of both potential energy; Potential Energy is the stored
energy an object has because of its position or state. Give some examples; A bicycle on
top of a hill, a book held over your head, and a stretched spring all have potential
energy. And Kinetic Energy; Kinetic Energy is the energy an object has due to its
motion. As long as an object is moving at the same velocity, it will maintain the same
kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of an object is calculated from the velocity and the
mass of the object. Demonstrate an example of potential and kinetic energy to the
class, start by making a simple ramp by placing one end of a clipboard and propping it
up on a stack of books.Hold a marble at the top of the ramp. Explain to the students that
right now the marble has no kinetic energy because it is not moving. But that the marble
does have gravitational potential energy, the energy an object has due to its height off
the ground. Release the marble and let it roll down the ramp. Watch as the marble gains
speed. Explain that when the marble rolled down the ramp, it lost gravitational potential
energy because its height had decreased, but gained kinetic energy because the speed
of the marble had increased. Therefore, its potential energy was converted into kinetic
energy.
Break the class into 6 groups of 4, explain to each group that they need to appoint each
person from the group a “job”, they will need to have 1 project manager, 1 project
assistant manager (take notes), 1 fabricator (builder), and 1 architect (designer). Then
give each group pieces of the Marble Run building set. They each must do their “job” for
the build, they will do it the project 4 times and switch jobs each time so that they each
have a turn at each job. Also during the different builds the assistant project manager
will be taking notes as to how fast the marble went, where did it seem to slow down and
did it matter in what order the pieces of the marble run were put? Also what build
seemed to work best? During the lesson, walk around the class to each group and
observe the students and how they work together. Ask them some questions about their
build and why they decided to build it with the pieces in that order. At the end there
should be a separate piece of paper per build which should have on it the students
names and their jobs for that build, a colored drawing of the design by the architect and
the notes taken by the assistant project manager.
(9) Assessment
For the assessment part I will be using Informal Assessment to grade the students on
their work for this lesson. While walking around during the lesson, questions will be
asked to gage the child’s understanding of what it is that they are doing and why they
are doing it.