Eleven questions in three sections make up this 4th grade knowledge check on energy in collisions, aligned to NGSS 4-PS3-3. Four multiple-choice predictions deal with a bowling ball, a baseball in a catcher's glove, toy cars, and marbles. Students then read a three-trial table of marble speeds in feet per second. They finish with bumper car predictions and a testable question of their own. The answer key covers all 11 questions.
4-PS3-3
“Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.”
Predictions in questions 1 to 4, 9, and 10, the marble data in questions 5 to 8, and question 11, where students write their own testable question.
Students answer four multiple-choice questions. They predict what the bowling ball does after it hits the pins and what shows the baseball's energy moved into the glove. They also predict how two toy cars and two marbles behave after impact.
A table records the speeds of Marble A and Marble B before and after three trials, such as Marble A dropping from 3 ft/s to 0 ft/s in Trial 1. Questions 5 to 8 ask where the motion energy went and why Marble B ends slightly slower.
A fast green car hits the back of a slow red car. Students predict each car's speed after the bump, then write one testable question about the collision.
Demo first
Roll one marble into a resting marble along a ruler track before Section 2. The table then describes something students have already watched.
Small group
Work through question 8 with students who think energy disappears. The key names sound and heat as the places the missing motion energy went.
End-of-lesson check
Use it to close your collisions lesson. The multiple-choice items grade fast, and question 11 shows who can form a question that a test could answer.
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