Science.3.8.B

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The student is expected to

plan and conduct investigations that demonstrate how the speed of an object is related to its mechanical energy.

1666 TEKS header image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Force, motion, and energy. The student knows that energy is everywhere and can be observed in cycles, patterns, and systems.

a measurable quantity that describes how much change can occur within a system

a phenomenon of energy that is due to the motion or position of an object

regular sequences that can be found throughout nature

a scalar quantity (number, magnitude) that is an instantaneous measurement of the rate of change in the motion of an object, calculated when the distance traveled is divided by the time taken

a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole

Research

Wu, Pei-Ying, Sharon Arias, and Jacqueline Hernandez. 2021. “Let’s Build a Fast Car: Instantiating Three-dimensional Instruction Through a STEAM Planning Guide.” Science and Children 59, no. 1 (Season-03 2021): 42–46. National Science Teachers Association. www.nsta.org/science-and-children/science-and-children-septemberoctober-2021/lets-build-fast-car.

Summary: In this article, Early Childhood students explore what makes a car move and what makes a car move quickly. The activity in this article encourages students to ask questions, conduct experiments, and analyze the results of their experiments. The teacher began by explaining the concept of speed to her students, what makes things move quickly, what makes cars move, and how a car’s parts work together. The class investigated speed and cars by reading books and watching videos. To build their cars, the students were given common supplies like cans, tape, and old toy car parts. They were introduced to vocabulary words like axle, wheel, and engine. Students built multiple cars of varying weights and sizes to compare the speed of their cars.