Simran Roy

7 November 2021
LT 7360
Mini-Unit Plan: Newton’s Three Laws
Part I
Background: My mini unit will be focused on Newton’s three laws of motion. This lesson is
directed to 8th grade students and will be a continuation of their foundational knowledge about
Newton’s three laws. The content will be presented and explained with examples and
opportunities of application of the content through nearpod which allows for the implementation
of many different tools within its platform.
Newton’s First Law nearpod link:
https://app.nearpod.com/?pin=0827335C25D408797CD6B9DE4BDFEA04-1
Newton’s Second Law nearpod link:
https://app.nearpod.com/?pin=8427372B86AB8DE9CB75238284A6BA69-1
Newton’s Third Law nearpod link:
https://app.nearpod.com/?pin=1C6CE249806E5FDA8EDA13A5D48FAD04-1
Duration: Each session will take 50-55 minutes which equates to one class period. This mini
unit will take three periods of lecture followed by no more than one hour at home for students to
complete their assessment nearpod. During the fourth and final class session, students will
present their review nearpods created on Newton’s three laws and will act as the “teacher.” The
presentations may go into a fifth session if necessary.
Learning Objectives:
Students will understand that objects stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force and
objects at motion will stay in motion unless stopped or acted upon by an outside force.
Students will understand that acceleration depends on its mass and the strength of the force.
Students will understand that acceleration and force have a directly proportional relationship
while acceleration and mass have an inversely proportional one.
Students will be able to calculate f=ma or a=f/m
Students will be able to explain and give examples of each of Newton’s three laws.
Students will be able to determine what content is important for mastery of this specific content.
Procedure: Students will start out the first class period by exploring and learning to understand
Newton’s first law with a lecture and interactive activities. During this lesson, I included plenty
of activities for me to formatively assess my students and their learning which I intend to do with
all of my lessons. Additionally, I included a summary of what they should know after this class
period. For the second class period, they will start with a refresher on what Newton’s first law is,
and how the second law is a continuation of it. Throughout this class period, they will be
assessed and asked to apply their knowledge in different ways. Followed by the summary of
what was covered, the ticket out the door will be for them to create their own example that shows
Newton’s Second Law using practical objects. For homework, students will practice f=ma
problems to ensure they understand how to calculate force, mass, and acceleration. For the third
class period, students will once again begin with a refresher of Newton’s second law and will be
asked to share their examples of Newton’s second law they completed at the end of yesterday’s
class with their classmates. The answers to the practice will be posted around the room and
students will be given the last 7-10 minutes of this class to check their answers and ask any
questions they have. To introduce Newton’s final law, student pairs will be given two marbles
and will be asked to experiment with them. After exploring with the marbles, students will be
given the definition of the third law and asked to explain it using their observations from marble
activity. Students will watch a video and complete a few more activities to apply their knowledge
from the video to ensure understanding. To conclude Newton’s Laws, students will complete a
matching activity followed by directions for how they will be assessed on the content. Students
will leave class with a rubric explaining how they can sucessfully create a review nearpod.
Assessment: Although I did assess my students throughout their learning, I will ask each student
to create their own review nearpod of Newton’s three laws. I like to use a tool my students are
familiar and comfortable with to ensure there is no time taken away from the content, and after
using nearpod consistently I know my students know the features it has to offer. I also believe
the best way to assess students is by having them figure out the information that is relevant and
important to understand. I will include a rubric for this presentation clearly stating how they will
be assessed, and this rubric will be given to them at the end of our third class session. The only
requirements will be that they include definitions of each of the laws, and 10 questions for their
peers using any activities or combination of activities nearpod has to offer.
Technology: Nearpod
Affordances: Uses:
1. Trim/add activities into videos you insert Students will watch videos within nearpod, and
into lessons will complete short activities during the videos to
keep them engaged.
2. Collaboration board Students will collaborate with their peers,
without changing the screen or window they are
working in. Students can see their peers’
answers, and there is an option for teachers that
allows you to review students’ answers before
they are visible to everyone.
3. Fill in the Blanks Students will complete this summary of the
content to ensure they grasped all the necessary
information.
4. Quiz Students will complete true/false or multiple-
choice questions, some that include images they
need to observe.
5. Time to Climb Students will play a game that allows for friendly
competition between students, while also
 increasing engagement. Most students will use
this tool for their 10 questions in their review
nearpod.
6. Slides Students can view information that is presented
to them along with images.

Rubric for Nearpod Review Assessment:

Categories: Required work: Points Points Score and Comments:

possible received:
out of 50
1) Definitions of Each of Newton’s 12pts (3pts
each of the three laws is defined in the for each
laws presentation. law)
2) 10 questions All review questions 30pts (3pts
related to Newton’s include information per
Laws from the laws. question)

3) Relevant and All information 8pts

accurate presented was
information was relevant to content,
presented and no
extra/unnecessary
information was
included. All the
content is accurate.

Part II: Reflection Essay

In the world we are living in now, most individuals understand the basic use of

technology. A lot of that has to do with our smartphone devices. Thinking back to the times our

parents were in school and how they didn’t have the option to use technology really makes me

appreciate it and use it without misusing it. The only benefit to starting my teaching career in

2020, during in this age of technology, was that I was more experienced and comfortable with it

than my colleagues. From my experience that year, most of my colleagues had come to me after

we got training on a new platform, or when they found out about a new digital tool I was using

with my students. Because I am a recent graduate, everything that was taught in my education

classes involved the use of technology and how to use it constructively. Through undergrad, I
was able to make a running list of specific digital technology tools that I may want to use later. I

would briefly describe the digital tool and what context it was used in so it would be more

efficient when I went back to look through my list later. I do believe that this era of technology

has created countless new possibilities and opportunities for our students to have individualized

learning experiences. There is no better time than right now for educators to become

intermediate, if not beginner, users of technology. Learning how to modify, adapt, and use

technology in the right way is important to achieve the best results. However, not knowing the

basic concept or use of certain technology/digital tools will place you at a disadvantage in the

real world today. Not only should you know how to use the digital tool/technology, but Heinrich

stated, “To make the most out of technology, digital learning initiatives take planning,

monitoring and assessment, and revamping and refinement over time to understand and cultivate

conditions under which ed-tech is effective.” (Heinrich, 2020). Therefore, I believe that

education technology training should be required by all educators before the school year begins.

Continued professional development should also be a priority in schools knowing that all of the

students receive devices from the school when they enroll. We, as educators, should be equipped

with the best practices and the digital tools that can be used across various subject or content

areas. In order to individualize the experience for our students to receive the maximum benefits,

we will need to have multiple digital tools or approaches to teaching. After a study done in two

urban school districts, data showed that there was not one “best” tool for success in digital

learning. The context, needs, capacities, and implementations impact each student differently.

There is a lot of data available to us to learn about which processes have worked, which ones

could use improvement, and approaches that bring negative results. Studies about the science of

learning tell us how important data is but using it for our teaching can help us understand so

much more about our students. Data tells us what we want to know and, sometimes, bonus
information that we may not have expected. Lee wrote that data would serve as an important

input for the next generation of online teaching, training, and learning to be fully customized. It

was with Lee’s research on quantified recess that I realized the next change I want to implement

in my teaching is using data to understand the link between movement and learning and how it

improves student academic performance. With technology and the digital tools and resources we

have available to us, social engagement has become possible and very useful for communication

across the world. It is even crazy to think about how far we have come technologically just in the

last 10 years. To imagine what the next 10 and 20 will be like is incredible. Like Lee said, we

are only beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible in schools.