Centre of Excellence for Energy

Overview

In this exploratory activity, learners experiment, observe and determine how various toys change from one form of energy to another.

Learners play with a pull-back race car, a groan tube, a popper, physics flyer, and balloon car to explore energy, its forms (heat energy, sound energy, etc.) and how it changes forms from potential to kinetic energy. This activity helps learners visualize the abstract concept of energy and apply it to everyday life.

Instructions

This activity is meant to be an exploratory activity where students experiment, observe, and determine how various toys change energy from one form of to another. If this is your students’ first time discussing energy, you may want to discuss types of energy, and model with other toys or materials prior to this activity. Begin with an introduction to energy. Science East has prepared the following video: Nuclear Energy Week Virtual Workshop: What is Energy? – YouTube

You may introduce the toys in any order you prefer. The lesson plan is the same for each toy:

Allow students to work with the toy.

Have the students discuss with their neighbors what the toy does and what energy changes it illustrates.

They should determine what form the energy starts out in, what energy changes occur while using the toy, including what form it is in when the toy stops. (Note: there are a lot of energy changes for each toy, so this can be somewhat open-ended. For instance, for the balloon car shown above, the energy starts as chemical energy in your body, which turns into motion energy of your body, which is stored as potential energy in the balloon. . .)

It is important to follow this activity with a class discussion, to help students finalize and formalize their findings.