Grades 3-5
30 activities – 300 pages

Every day students make countless informal observations about how the physical world operates. Popping with Power builds on those experiences by drawing more focused attention to some of the central ideas of physical science—force, motion and energy. Within each activity, students will do the work of scientists. They will use the principles of scientific inquiry as they identify, test, and control variables; gather data and look for relationships; draw conclusions; and ask probing questions. 

For example, in “Puff Mobiles,” students make sail cars out of straws, paper and wheels that are to be powered by their own wind energy. They test their cars and then modify the designs in an effort to make them travel further. Through observations, informal hypotheses, and retesting, students will converge on a design that will travel the farthest, and in the process, will have learned principals of force and friction.

Other activities will guide students as they:
•    Explore the pushes and pulls on balls, pendulums, levers, bricks and student-made catapults;
•    Observe heat energy traveling by conduction or conserved by insulation;
•    Survey the use of electrical energy at home and discuss conservation measures; and
•    Make wind-propelled objects and consider wind energy as a renewable resource.

Popping with Power develops process skills, thinking skills, and content knowledge in a meaningful way. Mathematics is naturally integrated as students measure, compute, graph, and identify patterns.