⚛️ Physics lesson plans
Free, standards-aligned high school Physics lesson plans. Each one is a full, ready-to-teach plan with an objective, direct instruction, activities, and formative assessment. Make a free account to unlock the printable worksheet, slides, and unit test for any lesson.
From Particles to Properties: Why Molecular Structure Determines How Materials Behave
Students will communicate — in words, diagrams, and a written justification — how the arrangement of particles and the electrostatic attractions between them determine a designed…
Read the full lesson →Wave Properties and the Wave Equation: v = fλ
Students will use mathematical representations (v = fλ) to justify a claim about how frequency, wavelength, and wave speed are related when a wave travels in a given medium and wh…
Read the full lesson →Newton's Second Law: Quantifying ΣF = ma with a Modified Atwood Machine
Students will analyze experimental data from a modified Atwood machine to support the claim that acceleration is directly proportional to net force and inversely proportional to m…
Read the full lesson →Thermal Equilibrium and Calorimetry: Where Does the Heat Go?
Students will plan and conduct a calorimetry investigation of hot and cold water mixed in an insulated cup, then use Q = mcΔT and conservation of energy to predict and verify the…
Read the full lesson →Designing a Rubber-Band Car: Converting Elastic PE to Kinetic Energy
Students will design, build, measure, and refine a rubber-band-powered car that converts elastic potential energy into kinetic energy, calculating efficiency from measured input a…
Read the full lesson →Energy Accounting: Building Computational Models of Conservation
Students will create a computational model (algebraic and spreadsheet-based) that calculates the change in energy of one component of a system when the total energy and all other…
Read the full lesson →Two Sides of One Coin: Currents Make Fields, Changing Fields Make Currents
Students will plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that (1) an electric current produces a magnetic field around it, and (2) a changing magnetic flux through a coil…
Read the full lesson →Inverse-Square Forces: Gravity and Coulomb's Law
Students will use F = Gm₁m₂/r² and F = kq₁q₂/r² to calculate gravitational and electrostatic forces, and predict how those forces change when mass, charge, or separation is scaled…
Read the full lesson →Engineering Collision Safety: Designing to Minimize Peak Force
Students will apply the impulse-momentum theorem (FΔt = Δp) to design, test, and iteratively refine a bumper that minimizes the peak force on a cart during a collision, justifying…
Read the full lesson →Conservation of Momentum: Carts, Collisions, and Newton's Third Law
Students will use conservation of momentum (Σp before = Σp after) to predict and verify the outcome of 1-D collisions and explosions, distinguish elastic from inelastic collisions…
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