Gravity Lesson Plan: Forces and Interactions

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Gravity, and supports the standard of analyzing the effects of forces on the motion of an object. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE 

Ask students:

• Why do you think we are able to walk on the surface of the Earth? Why do our bodies not float into space?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Gravity topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Gravity Challenge and Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: EXTEND and DEEPEN

Students express what they learned about gravity while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Create a movie for someone from another planet explaining gravity. In your movie, answer this question: What are some ways gravity impacts everyday life on Earth?
• Make-a-Map: Make a cause-and-effect concept map identifying how mass and distance affects  gravity. 
• Creative Coding: Code a newscast announcing the loss of gravity on Earth! Inform viewers about how their lives will change.

More to Explore

Pendulum Lab: Students manipulate a pendulum’s swing under the forces of gravity on Earth, the Moon, and an unknown planet in this simulation game

Nature of the Universe Unit: Continue to build understanding around forces and interactions with more BrainPOP topics.

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.