PhET Forces and Motion Basics Activity Guide

The PhET: Forces and Motion Basics Activity Guide is used along with the free *Next Generation PhET Simulation “Forces and Motion Basics”. Students will discover how balanced and unbalanced forces affect an object’s motion and then explore the relationship between force, mass, acceleration, speed, and friction on the motion of objects.

The activity guide takes students through the 4 parts of the simulation: Net Force, Motion, Friction and Acceleration. Students are encouraged to make predictions as to the motion of various objects given certain parameters and then to experiment to discover how each parameter affects the object’s motion.

Your students will hit the ground running without the need for a lengthy introduction from you. Just print the activity guide or share from your Google Drive. Students can follow the link to the free simulation. The best part is that students don’t even know they are learning, they just think they are having fun!

The activity guide includes both PDF and Google Doc versions for printing worksheets or sharing via Google Drive or Google Classroom. This lesson is perfect for face to face, hybrid, or remote learning!

This product includes the Activity Guide (pdf), Activity Guide (Google Doc), Answer Key, and a Getting Started Guide for teachers.

*PhET simulations are fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena. As students interact with the simulation, they get immediate feedback about the affects of the changes they made. All PhET simulations are freely available from the PhET website (phet.colorado.edu) and are easy to use and incorporate into the classroom. The new Next Generation sims utilize HTML 5 which allows them to run in any modern web browser on most devices including Chromebooks and tablets like the iPad! Learn more about using PhET Simulations with your students.