Science lesson plan · 6th grade (Year 7 in England) · 45 minutes
Follow energy transfers and spot wasted energy
Energy
CCSS NGSS.MS-PS3-5CCSS NGSS.4-PS3-4England: KS3 Physics: Energy
Objective and success criteria
Students will: Follow energy transfers and spot wasted energy.
- I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
- I can explain each step and say why it works.
- I can check my answer and spot a mistake.
Before and after
Needs first: Identify energy stores in everyday situations
Leads to: the next skill in this area.
Materials: Wind-up toys or a pendulum, Energy transfer diagrams, Mini whiteboards, A diagram or short video clip of the idea, Printed student sheet (below).
Warm-up · 5 min
- Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Identify energy stores in everyday situations). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
- Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
- Which energy store is the main one here: a drawn archery bow? (elastic potential store / chemical store / thermal store / kinetic store) → elastic potential storePrompt: Is it moving, high up, stretched, hot, a fuel or food, or atomic?
- A trampoline is pressed down as a gymnast lands. Which store fills up? (elastic potential / nuclear / chemical / thermal only) → elastic potentialPrompt: The springs and mat are stretched.
- Energy stores: which statement is NOT true? (Light and sound are energy stores. / Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred between stores. / A faster object has more energy in its kinetic store. / Energy is measured in joules (J).) → Light and sound are energy stores.Prompt: Is light a store or a way of transferring energy?
Hook · 5 min
- Wind up a toy or stretch an elastic band and ask where the energy goes.
- Share the objective: Follow energy transfers and spot wasted energy. Read the success criteria together.
I do: model it · 10 min
- Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
- Example: Every second, an electric fan is supplied with 500 J of energy. 450 J is transferred usefully (movement of the blades). How much energy is wasted each second, in J?
- Step 1: 500 − 450 = 50
- Step 2: So the answer is: 50 J
- Answer: 50 J
- Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.
We do: guided practice · 10 min
- Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
- Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
- Every second, an LED lamp is supplied with 200 J of energy. 40 J is transferred usefully (light). How much energy is wasted each second, in J? → 160 JPrompt: Total energy in = useful energy out + wasted energy out.
- A car brakes and stops. Where does most of its kinetic energy go? (the car's gravitational store / it disappears / the thermal store of the brakes and surroundings / the chemical store of the fuel) → the thermal store of the brakes and surroundingsPrompt: Brakes get hot.
You do: independent practice · 10 min
- Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
- Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.
The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.
Exit ticket · 5 min
- Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
- Every second, a phone speaker is supplied with 1200 J of energy. 120 J is transferred usefully (sound). How much energy is wasted each second, in J? → 1080 JPrompt: Total energy in = useful energy out + wasted energy out.
- A car brakes and stops. Where does most of its kinetic energy go? (the thermal store of the brakes and surroundings / the car's gravitational store / it disappears / the chemical store of the fuel) → the thermal store of the brakes and surroundingsPrompt: Brakes get hot.
Watch out for
- Everyday meanings of words getting in the way of the science meaning: define key words explicitly.
- Remembering facts without the reason: ask "why?" and "what is the evidence?"
Support and stretch
Support
- Review first: Identify energy stores in everyday situations.
- Use concrete materials: wind-up toys or a pendulum.
- Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
- Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.
Stretch
- Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
- Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.
Homework and more practice
Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-6.
Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder