Lesson Plan: Free Body Diagrams

Learning Objectives:
The students will learn how to draw a free body diagram of an object that has various forces
acting on it.
The students will be able to predict which direction an object will move based on the forces
drawn on the free body diagram.
The students will learn the different types of forces and be able to identify them (applied,
gravitational, normal, and frictional)
The students will learn how to use the SmartBoard by drawing free body diagrams in front of the
class.

Assessment Criteria:
The students will be given a worksheet with various objects (shapes such as a circle on a ramp or
string) and be asked to draw arrows representing the various forces.
After working on the worksheet for about five to ten minutes, the students will be placed at
various stations in their groups and predict what sort of motion the object will take when
“released.”
For each station, they will also draw a free body diagram in their notebook, that will get them
thinking about forces.
At the end of class, I will use Powerpoint and have various examples of forces (descriptions,
pictures, etc.) and have students tell me what type of force. They will do this by writing their
answers on their individual white boards, so I can get an idea of how many students have a good
grasp on forces.

Benchmarks/Standards:
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve
problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
Content Standard C: Objects change their motion only when a net force is applied. Laws of
motion are used to calculate precisely the effects of forces on the motion of objects. The
magnitude of the change in motion can be calculated using the relationship F=ma, which is
independent of the nature of the force. Whenever one objects exerts force on another, a force
equal in magnitude and opposite in direction is exerted on the first object.

Prior Knowledge:
-The students understand that Force = mass x acceleration
-Exposure to Newton’s Laws. They don’t need to know what each law is, specifically, but they
must know that there needs to be a force on an object in order to set an object in motion. Also,
for every force, there is a reactant force.
The students have studied motion already, so they should have a strong grasp on terms such as
displacement, velocity, and acceleration. Also, they should understand the relationship between
all three terms.

Instructional Strategies:
Besides having students draw out free body diagrams to various examples, the students will also
be making predictions about what they think will happen to various objects when certain forces
are applied in different directions. Their predictions will be based on the free body diagrams
they draw out. With these different instructional strategies, the students will get practice drawing
their “models” or free body diagrams. After making their predictions, they can test out their
predictions and revise their models if they aren’t right. The last part of the lesson will include
technology (powerpoint). I will put up various scenarios and the students have to agree on which
type of forces are included in the scenario. This will get them thinking about real life situations
and hopefully they realize that forces are everywhere, otherwise we’d all be floating in space!

Instructional resources used:

The first part of the lesson is very straightforward with just a worksheet. The students can
discuss the examples with their peers if they don’t understand.
The second part of the lesson will use various objects, such as balls, ramps, and strings. Each
station will have a different scenario and the students will draw a free body diagram and make a
prediction what will happen if the ball is “released.” This will be done in groups so they have
time to discuss their predictions and observations with their peers.
The last part of the lesson plan will be a lesson wrap-up where I will use powerpoint to assess the
students knowledge about the types of forces.

Materials and Set-up:

- Worksheets
Balls, ramps, strings, piece of carpet
Station 1: Ball on a ramp tied to a string that is attached to a wall
Station 2: Ball hanging on a string
Station 3: Ball sitting on a table with a string attached to it and the string to wall
Station 4: Ball on a carpeted ramp with a string attached to it
Powerpoint

Cautions:
There are no dangers with any of the activities in this lesson. When the students are going
around to the different stations, be sure to make sure they’re on task because they may get off-
topic when working with their peers.

Instructional Sequence:

Introducing the Lesson:

Day 1:
The first day will be strictly introducing forces and what free body diagrams look like.
Start the class off by putting up a journal question: When astronauts go to the moon,
why is it that they “weigh” less?
Have the students discuss amongst each other their answers, and have a couple of the students
share what they thought. Have the students give a thumbs up if they agree.
The rest of the lesson is essentially going to be lecture. Bring up the powerpoint on forces, and
go through the slides. Get the students involved by asking questions every few slides, and asking
if they have any questions to make sure they aren’t completely lost. Throughout the lecture, I
could have “checkpoint” slides that will ask multiple choice questions regarding what I just
explained. The answers will be anonymous to the class so all the students can answer honestly. I
will be able to go back later and see which students understand the material and which ones
don’t.
This should take the rest of the class period. At the very end of class, if time allows, tell the
students that tomorrow they will be doing a lab and a worksheet, so they are prepared.

Day 2:
-When the students walk into the classroom, have them grab a worksheet on free body diagrams
that they will work on for the first five to ten minutes of class. This worksheet is supposed to
done individually, but if the students have a question, encourage them to ask their
neighbors or myself.
-Yesterday, I went over a powerpoint with them about free body diagrams dealing with forces
and how they are to be used. The only homework assigned from yesterday was to read a section
of the textbook about free body diagrams in the Force chapter.
After they have a few minutes to work on the worksheet, ask if there are any questions
about the worksheet OR the assigned reading. If so, go over a couple problems on
the board.
Have the students hold on to the worksheet, but make sure to tell them to turn it in at the
end of the period. The purpose of them holding onto it for the time being is so they can
refer to it during their lab.
If there are no more questions, have all the students come to the lab stations in the back of the
classroom.
Explain to them what they will be doing.- At each station, look at the system and
draw a free body diagram with the various forces present. Then, write a
short statement on what you think will happen to the object if the string
attached is cut, based on your free body diagram. After that, you will test
what happens by cutting the string. DON’T DO ANY DEMOS BECAUSE THEY
WILL BE MAKING PREDICTIONS ABOUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN.
Have them pick up the lab packet from the front of the classroom and answer a couple of the
questions about forces with their peers.
After they answer the questions, they should go to each of the four different lab stations and
make predictions about what will happen to the ball if the string is untied or cut. After each of
these predictions, they will test their predictions. (Using the scientific method is a great way to
learn because it gets the students thinking ahead of time, and seeing if they were right, first
hand.)
After about 5 to 7 minutes, have them rotate stations. Therefore, the whole lab should take about
20 to 25 minutes.
During this time, make sure to walk around and ask the students questions
about what they think is going on, from a physical perspective. Look for
words like forces, friction, gravity, tension, etc.
After they get through all the stations, have them turn in their lab and worksheet at the front desk
in front of the classroom.
Tell the students to grab a small whiteboard and a marker from the front of
the classroom, and then be seated.
When all the students are seated, pull up the power point about the different types of forces.
When going through the different examples, have the students write on their whiteboards what
they think the answer should be. Give them about 30 seconds or a minute to think about it and
write down their answer. Have them raise their boards towards the front of the classroom. (This
is a good assessment of how comfortable the students are with the material.) Do this for about 5
to 10 minutes, depending on time left in class. Instead of the white boards, I can do a multiple
choice using their clickers, so their answers are anonymous but I will be able to go back and see
their individual answers so I can assess which students understand the material and which ones
don’t.
With a few minutes left in class, remind the students that there will be a quiz tomorrow on the
different types of forces and free body diagrams. The quiz will be the first thing they do
tomorrow, followed by other activities.

Day 3:

Start off the class with a journal question. Draw a ball on a ramp and have the students draw the
forces acting on the object. Ask for a volunteer to come up to the board to draw the forces, and
ask if all the students agree by giving a thumbs up. In order to integrate more technology in my
classroom, instead of a white board, I can use a SmartBoard that will be more interesting for the
kids to use. Also, instead of having the students give a thumbs up, I could use the clickers to do
a poll if they agree or not.

If most of the class agrees, ask if they have any last minute questions before their quiz. Answer
any questions, and if there are none, pass out the quiz. Give them about 20 minutes to work on
the quiz.

After the quiz, introduce the next lesson with a powerpoint. The next lesson deals with more
formulas such as F=ma and the gravitational formula that influences all large masses in space.
This will take the rest of the class. Even though there may not be enough time in this day, I could
use the motion sensors in a lab for the following days that will be able to tell us if the object is
accelerating and be able to calculate the momentum and force it carries with it. There are also
force detectors that I can use too.

This is a good lesson but right now the way that it is written it flows like a one day lesson plan—
how will you sequence between the two-three days of instruction? Each of the days should have
an intro, main body and then a wrap up. Can you go back and add in this type of details? Make
certain to have the evaluation section of the lesson plan as well. I added Day 1 and Day 3 (they
are pretty short because Day 1 is mostly going through power point slides and Day 3 is a quiz
and power point) Day 2 is the “big day” that I originally spent most of my time planning for.

Design Rationale:

This lesson has several various types of activities. The purpose of this is allow the students to
get exposed to forces from different perspectives. Each student learns differently so it is
important to assess each student in more than one way. Not everyone is a good test-taker so
using quizzes and tests exclusively, isn’t necessarily effective. The three day lesson plan is set-
up in a way that the students are exposed to the material and given homework to read about
forces in their textbooks, then they do some hands-on work with forces on the second day
(today), so they can learn visually, and the third day will be a wrap-up with a couple journal
questions to get their minds going followed by a quiz.