REPUBLIC OF PALAU

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

LESSON PLAN
1. GENERAL INFROMATION
School: ________________________________ Teacher: _______________________________
Subject: Science       Grade Level:  8     th
Group Size: ____         Section (if any): ___
Quarter:  3    
rd              
Quarter Day (s):________ Date(s):               Time Frame:2 days
2. LESSON INFORMATION
Curriculum Framework Lesson Standard (s): (What are the big ideas that students need to know?)

Physical Science
The science of matter and energy at the smallest microscopic levels and at the largest levels
of the Universe.

Curriculum Framework Lesson Objective (s): (What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a
result of this lesson?)

8.PS.4 Compare and contrast different kinds of forces and their effects on matter.

Lesson Resources: (What tools such as textbooks and or realia (manipulatives) will be used to teach the
lessons?)

 Holt Science Plus Unit 4 Chapters 10 & 11

 Use Exploration 2, Making Your Own Force Meter, on pages 236 and 237
Activity Materials
 old broom handle
 a cup hook
 paper clips
 rigid cardboard tube or a few inches of PVC pipe
 rubber bands
 masking tape
 your suspended bottle and water

Vocabulary Words: (What key, academic, literary or other necessary words will be used to teach the lessons?)

 Buoyant force – the directional force exerted upward by a liquid on a submerged body.
 Magnetic force – the attraction or repulsion that one magnet exerts on another, or the
attraction between a magnet and certain metals.
 Electrical force – the force between that causes oppositely charged materials to attract each
other and similarly charged materials to repel each other.
 Gravitational force – the mutual force of attraction exerted by particles of matter.
 Elastic force – the force that is exerted by a material when it is stretched.
 Frictional forces – the force that opposes the motion between two objects in contact with each
other.
 Centripetal force – a force that causes objects to move toward the center of rotation.

1
3. LESSON SEQUENCE
A. Introduction (e.g., expectations, activities, items to be discussed, review of previous lessons,
introduction of new topic, etc)
Time: 5 min

Teacher explains the purpose of the lesson to students:

A force is any push or pull on another object. The study of forces is the most important part of the
eighth grade physical science curriculum and is studied in chapters 10-13 in the Holt science
curriculum. In these chapters, students (and teachers) study forces such as gravity, friction,
buoyancy, magnetism and elasticity.
Several of the activities this third quarter require the measurement of forces. This allows students to
do experiments in which they compare forces. Forces are measured in Newtons (N), named after Sir
Isaac Newton, the guy who first talked about it.

You might teach in a lucky school that has a set of spring scales that measure forces in Newtons.
They work just like a fish scale but the results can be read directly in Newtons. Maybe you don’t have
a set of lab spring scales. There are some interesting work-arounds that help your students to
understand measurement and forces EVEN BETTER than using a lab spring scale. You need two
simple relationships:

1N just about equals the force of gravity on a 100 g mass.

and
100 mL of water has a mass of 100 g

B. Body (step-by-step procedures of actual presentation of the lesson, guiding questions like- How will the
lesson be presented? What activities will be included, etc)
Time: 35 min

Day 1
 Option 1

Use a luggage scale. These often measure in grams and kilograms. Read 1 Newton for every 100
grams or every 1/10 of a kilogram.

 Option 2
Use a fish scale. These usually measure in pounds and ounces, so you have to
change the printed scale.

Cover up the printed scale with masking tape. Make a 2-liter water bottle into a
hanging bottle by making 2 or 3 holes along the top, threading a string or wire
through the holes and hang it on your fish scale. Or use a gallon water bottle that
already has handles that can be used to hang it off a fish scale. Ignore the weight of
the bottle, it is small, and you are only approximating forces in eighth grade science.

Add 100 ml of water to your hanging bottle and mark it on the masking tape as 1 N.
Add another 100 ml of water and mark it on the masking tape as 2 N. Continue to 5 Newtons and
you have a metric spring scale.

 Option 3
Use Exploration 2, Making Your Own Force Meter, on pages 236 and 237. You will need an old
broom handle, a cup hook, paper clips a rigid cardboard tube or a few inches of PVC pipe, rubber
2
bands, masking tape, your suspended bottle and water. Make your scale using the water bottle and
100 g of water to mark every 1 N of force.

Note: PVC pipe is available at a hardware store. It is cheap and can be easily cut with a handsaw.

Day 2

1. Students turn Holt Science Plus Textbook to page S75.

2. Have student volunteers read aloud page S75-S76 “Friction and Motion”

3. Asked students, Have you ever slipped on a polished floor? Answer: Friction between your shoes
and the floor enables you to apply the horizontal force that moves you forward.

4. Teacher explains that “Because friction hinders motion, people may assume that friction is a
negative force that must be overcome. Have students imagine the following activities to reinforce the
fact that friction helps as much as it hinders.”
 Apply dishwashing soap to your hands. Then try to open a tightly sealed jar.
 Apply petroleum jelly to a doorknob and try to turn it.
 Try picking up bowling ball that has been coated with oil.

6. Have student volunteers read aloud page S76-S77 “Types of Motion”, after the reading teacher
demonstrates the following using a new, unopened pain can, 6 marbles, 4 heavy books.
-Place the can upright on a table. Balance all four books on top of the can. Then try to spin the books
on top of the can. Next, remove the books and place the six marbles evenly around the rim of the
can.
-Balance the books on top of the marbles and again try to spin the books.

7. Wrap Up: Teacher connects lesson to Life Science: Humans have tiny ridges in the skin of their
hands and feet. These ridges increase friction between the skin and objects the hands or feet touch.
This friction helps humans grasp objects with their hands and avoid slipping with their feet.

8. Quick Quiz: What is centripetal acceleration? Have students ponder about that question for their
less next day.

C. Conclusion: (summary of key points covered in the lesson)

Time: 5 min

Day 1: Students take out their journals and draw conclusions or write down main ideas learned from
the experiment.

Day 2: Have students record their observations and hypothesize in their journals about what forces
were involved before and after adding the marbles.

D. Evaluation: (types of assessment/evaluation to be used; e.g., paper/pencil, informal observation,

performances by rubric, multiple choice etc.)

 Observations from experiment

 Journal entries
E. Teacher’s Notes: (lesson successes, approaches that did not go well and need reviewing etc.)

3
Our students will be successful in the Palauan society and the world.