OpenSciEd Unit 8.1 · Lesson 12 · 12.A
Materials and peak forces
MS-PS2-1MS-PS2-2Assessment opportunity · Formative assessment
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
Building towards
12.A Analyze data to determine which materials reduce peak force in a collision and analyze the similarities (visual patterns across materials) in the properties of those materials (macroscopic deformability).
What to look / listen for
As students are individually reflecting on data, they should write about the patterns they see across multiple structures that were top performers. Students should identify that the better performers have space and/or air gaps in them and the ability to deform more than other materials that did not perform as well.
What to do
- If students do not identify similarities in better-performing materials, encourage students to go check out all 10 materials to feel and see if there are similarities in the behavior and structure of the materials.
- Have students describe the structure of 2 different materials that performed well and have them look for patterns in the structures of those materials.
- Have students apply a force (e.g., with their fingers or a spring scale) to each of the materials and describe what seems similar between the materials that were better performers.