Newton’s Laws of Motion – Grade 5/6

The lesson plan I have chosen to apply differentiated instruction (DI) to is on Newton’s laws of
motion. I will be honest and say I have never actually taught Newton’s laws, as it is out of my
comfort zone; however, I have decided to embrace a growth mindset and begin a unit on it next
week! For this reason, I turned the original lesson/project in the attachment, into an entire unit
with DI.

I obtained this lesson/project from a colleague. As it appears, students would receive a copy of
the reading on Sir Isaac Newton and his three laws of motion and would then choose one of three
projects to complete in order to demonstrate their understanding of the laws. While the projects
provide students with creative and engaging methods of representation, there’s definitely a lot
that can be added to make this lesson/project more inclusive for all learners. As stated in
“Reducing Barriers in Science for Students with Special Educational Needs” (Boyle, Rizzo &
Taylor, 2020), difficulties in understanding science vocabulary and concepts can stem from
deficiencies in sensory processing, expressive/receptive language, and content language. Due to
language and literacy being such a large part of science education, we need to make special
effort in ensuring that lessons can be received by students with exceptionalities.

I don’t think introducing Newton’s laws can be done in one lesson, while being cognizant of the
exceptionalities and social-emotional and learning needs in my classroom, so these are the
changes I would make. I have also included the multiple intelligences each activity/lesson is
suited for.

Part I:
Before handing out the original information page on Sir Isaac Newton and his laws of motion, I
would start with finding out what students know and what they wonder. Chances are students
won’t have a lot of previous knowledge or know who Isaac Newton is. I would bet the KWL
would be largely empty and so, I would show a video that depicts the laws of motion and have
students expand on their “wonders”.
 KWL – “What do you already KNOW?”, “What do you WONDER?”, “What have you
LEARNED?” (“learned” gets completed at the end of the unit)  use this to guide
lessons and discussions
o Get students thinking about the laws of motion, have they heard about them? Do
they know what physics is? Have they heard the words inertia, velocity, mass,
force, acceleration, etc.? If not, what do the wonder about them?
 Hook – show a YouTube video that demonstrates Newton’s laws of motion (visual-
spatial)
o “An Overview of Newton’s Laws of Motion” – (8:28)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMmFTA9AThw
o Class discussion – what did you notice? Can you visualize these laws? Have you
experienced them before? Etc.
o Add to KWL if student have new “wonders”

Part II:
Now that students have a little background knowledge on Newton’s laws of motion, I would
expose students to the laws again, but this time in written form. I would begin by prefacing that
there are quite a few new “science words” in the text and that we should approach the reading
with a growth mindset… “Remember, we can do HARD things!”
 Create bulletin board/word wall - display posters  visuals that include definitions,
display new vocabulary words with pictures (if possible) (visual-spatial)
 Display library books – gather books (various reading levels) to display in classroom for
silent reading (these can also be scanned into Kurzweil)
 Hand out original information sheet
o Read as a class, highlight each law of motion (not individual bullets), put a box
around new words, discuss new words
 OR, do a group  class discussion using “true/false statements” about
content – help students build vocabulary and better detect meaning and
conceptual ideas (Hutchinson, 2021) (verbal-linguistic)
 1) give true/false statement (i.e., “the more mass something has,
the greater its inertia”, 2) group discusses answer (true or false),
requires group consensus to encourage discussion and defend
answer (Hutchinson, 2021)
o I have typically had an EA sit with students who struggle with reading or who
have exceptionalities that prevent them from reading independently  this can be
done individually or in a small group
o Kurzweil – if accessible, scan information page into Kurzweil and students can
listen to it  this program is able to highlight words as they are read

Part III:

 Song – What’s Newton’s Law Say? (What Does the Fox Say Parody) (musical-rhythmic)

 Cut n’ Sort – with a partner, review vocabulary from previous lesson, cut and sort
vocabulary words and definitions, match them up, glue onto paper) (bodily-kinesthetic &
verbal-linguistic)
 Lab – Law #1  “Quarter Drop” (Bill Nye, Season 5, Episode 20) (bodily-kinesthetic)

Part IV:
 Demonstrate/Act Out Each Law – as a class, ask for students to participate (bodily-
kinesthetic)
 Think/Pair/Share – for each law, what real-life examples can you think of? (verbal-
linguistic)

Part V:
 Storyboard – create a 3-frame storyboard of each law that includes illustrations, labels
and sentences (visual-spatial)
 Newton Cootie Catcher/Fortune Teller – review of laws (bodily-kinesthetic)

Part VI:
  “Which Law is It?” Worksheet – in heterogeneous partners, read examples and decide
which law is being described
 Lab – Law #2&3  “Tug-of-War” (bodily-kinesthetic)

Part VII:
 Video – Epic: Law #3 (explanation)(visual-spatial)
 Lab – Law #3  Epic: show video, create car (in partners) (bodily-kinesthetic & logical-
mathematical)

Part VIII:
 Chart – book definition, easy way to remember it, lab example, real-life example
(logical-mathematical)
 Lab – “Marble Maze” and/or “Egg Car Project” and/or “Straw Rocket Inquiry”
(depending on time, interest, etc.) (bodily-kinesthetic & logical-mathematical)

Part IX:
 Project – choose one of the following forms of representation to demonstrate your
understanding of Newton’s law of motion
o Magazine Collage – be creative, show your understanding, make sure it is clear
which laws are being illustrated (visual-spatial)
o Book (magazine or real photos) – find at least two pictures that illustrate each
law, write a paragraph describing pictures illustrate each law (visual-spatial)
o PowerPoint (or equivalent) – include at least two pictures/video segments for
each law, picture must be photos (not diagrams) (visual-spatial)
o iMovie – demonstrate each law in two different ways, include explanations of
each (can be a group project) (bodily-kinesthetic)
o Cartoon/Comic Strip – provide accurate and amusing examples of Newton’s
laws, show creativity and understanding (visual-spatial)
o Song/Rap – include accurate statements and examples of Newton’s laws, provide
a written copy of the song lyrics and perform it in class (musical-rhythmic &
verbal-linguistic)
o Jenga Explanation – how do Newton’s laws come into play when playing Jenga?
Provide a written explanation of how the laws apply to winning and losing
(bodily-kinesthetic)
o Free Choice – must check with teacher first

Part X:
 Movie – choose a movie with Newton’s laws of motion to celebrate our learning,
possible example include:
o Space Jam
o Hidden Figures
o Coyote and Roadrunner
o Jimmy Newtron
o Home Alone
o Dennis the Menace
 o Mighty Ducks (anything sports)

References:

Boyle, S., Rizzo, K. L., & Taylor, J. C. (2020). Reducing Language Barriers in Science for
Students with Special Educational Needs. Asia-Pacific Science Education, 6(2),
364-387. https://doi.org/10.1163/23641177-BJA10006

Coles, A. (n.d.). Newton’s Laws of Motion Project.

Dunigan Science. Straw Rocket Lab – Newton’s Laws of Motion. Teachers Pay Teachers.
Retrieved May 20, 2021.

Harris, M. (2019). Newton’s Laws of Motion Storyboards. Science Time with Mrs. Harris.
Teachers Pay Teachers. Retrieved May 17, 2021.

Hutchinson, H. (2021). How to Support Vocabulary Building in Science Classes.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-support-vocabulary-building-science-classes

Greater Houston Moms. Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. Teachers Pay Teachers.
Retrieved May 17, 2021.

Middle School Momentum. Newton’s Laws of Motion Fact Sheet. Teachers Pay
Teachers. Retrieved May 17, 2021.

Orecchio, C. Which law is it? Newton’s Laws of Motion. Teachers Pay Teachers.
Retrieved May 17, 2021.

Repking, K. STEM Project: Egg Car Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion. Teachers Pay Teachers.
Retrieved May 20, 2021.

Sunflower Scaffolds. Newton’s Laws of Motion Mini Posters. Teachers Pay Teachers.
Retrieved May 17, 2021.