Science lesson plan · 6th grade (Year 7 in England) · 45 minutes
Identify energy stores in everyday situations
Energy
CCSS NGSS.MS-PS3-1CCSS NGSS.MS-PS3-2England: KS3 Physics: EnergyEngland: GCSE Combined Science: Energy
Objective and success criteria
Students will: Identify energy stores in everyday situations.
- 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: Energy stores and transfers
Leads to: Follow energy transfers and spot wasted energy; Kilowatt-hours and the cost of electricity
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 (Energy stores and transfers). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
- Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
- Which energy store is most important here: a child at the top of a slide? (gravitational potential (height) / kinetic (movement) / chemical / elastic potential (stretch or squash)) → gravitational potential (height)Prompt: Is it moving, raised up, stretched, hot, or able to release energy by reacting?
- When you rub your hands together, the movement energy is transferred to… (nuclear energy / thermal energy (they warm up) / chemical energy / elastic energy) → thermal energy (they warm up)Prompt: How do your hands feel?
- Which of these mainly has a gravitational potential (height) energy store? (a stretched trampoline / a running dog / petrol (gasoline) / water behind a high dam) → water behind a high damPrompt: Think about what each object is doing.
Hook · 5 min
- Wind up a toy or stretch an elastic band and ask where the energy goes.
- Share the objective: Identify energy stores in everyday situations. 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: Which energy store is the main one here: a stretched catapult elastic?
- Step 1: Stretched or squashed objects store energy elastically.
- Step 2: So the answer is: elastic potential store
- Answer: elastic potential store
- 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.
- Which energy store is the main one here: hydrogen in the core of the Sun? (thermal store / gravitational potential store / nuclear store / chemical store) → nuclear storePrompt: Is it moving, high up, stretched, hot, a fuel or food, or atomic?
- A cup of tea cools down on a table. Where does the energy go? (to a nuclear store / to the tea's kinetic store / it is destroyed / to the thermal store of the surroundings) → to the thermal store of the surroundingsPrompt: Energy cannot be destroyed.
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.
- Which energy store is the main one here: a sandwich? (nuclear store / gravitational potential store / elastic potential store / chemical store) → chemical storePrompt: Is it moving, high up, stretched, hot, a fuel or food, or atomic?
- Energy stores: which statement is NOT true? (Energy is used up when a battery goes flat. / Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred between stores. / Food contains energy in a chemical store. / A faster object has more energy in its kinetic store.) → Energy is used up when a battery goes flat.Prompt: Is light a store or a way of transferring energy?
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: Energy stores and transfers.
- 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
- Move on to: Follow energy transfers and spot wasted energy; Kilowatt-hours and the cost of electricity.
- 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