Class Demonstration
Materials:
Take the ball and hold it up in the air. Ask students what would happen if I let go of the ball? After gathering students prediction of what will happen to the ball then let go. As it drops to the ground have students explain what happened. Explain that this is an example of gravity.Gravity is what pulls everything to the Earth. Stand up on a stool or something tall and hold up two items. Have students predict which item will hit the ground first. Then drop them. Continue this investigation until you have dropped each of the items collected. Discuss as a class why these items fall to the ground.
After demonstartng all the items falling then hold up the two blocks. Attach one of them to string hanging from the ceiling. Have students predict what will happen when you let go of the two blocks. Let go and observe what happens. Discuss the differences between the two blocks. Why are they different?
- stool
- Feather
- Rock
- Scarf
- Ball
- Balloon
- Pencil
- Pinecone
- Block
- string
- 2 blocks the same size and shape
Take the ball and hold it up in the air. Ask students what would happen if I let go of the ball? After gathering students prediction of what will happen to the ball then let go. As it drops to the ground have students explain what happened. Explain that this is an example of gravity.Gravity is what pulls everything to the Earth. Stand up on a stool or something tall and hold up two items. Have students predict which item will hit the ground first. Then drop them. Continue this investigation until you have dropped each of the items collected. Discuss as a class why these items fall to the ground.
After demonstartng all the items falling then hold up the two blocks. Attach one of them to string hanging from the ceiling. Have students predict what will happen when you let go of the two blocks. Let go and observe what happens. Discuss the differences between the two blocks. Why are they different?
Group Activity
Materials:
Create different stations around the room. One station will be paper airplanes. Students can throw the airplanes and see whose goes the farthest. Watch and see what the airplane does as you throw it (does it go up? How far does it go? Does the airplane come back down? Why?)
The second station will have a car ramp set up with cars to race on it. See how fast you can push the car. Watch the path of the car. (Does it go up? How far does it go? Does the car come back down to the ground? Why?)
The third station will have bouncy balls and a hard surface. Students can either throw the balls up, or bounce them down into the ground really hard. Watch the path of the ball. (Does it go up? Does it come back down to the ground? Does it go back up again? Why? Where does it stop?)
Discuss how all these activities are similar. What are the end results of all the activities?
- Paper airplanes (either kids make paper airplanes, or make them ahead of time)
- Toy cars
- Car ramp
- Bouncy balls
- Hard Surface
Create different stations around the room. One station will be paper airplanes. Students can throw the airplanes and see whose goes the farthest. Watch and see what the airplane does as you throw it (does it go up? How far does it go? Does the airplane come back down? Why?)
The second station will have a car ramp set up with cars to race on it. See how fast you can push the car. Watch the path of the car. (Does it go up? How far does it go? Does the car come back down to the ground? Why?)
The third station will have bouncy balls and a hard surface. Students can either throw the balls up, or bounce them down into the ground really hard. Watch the path of the ball. (Does it go up? Does it come back down to the ground? Does it go back up again? Why? Where does it stop?)
Discuss how all these activities are similar. What are the end results of all the activities?
Effective Questions to use
If gravity pulls things down why don't airplanes fall from the sky?
What would our world look like with no gravity?
What would our world look like with no gravity?