University of Arizona College of Education/Teachers in Industry 1
UbD Unit Plan
Established Goals
What content standards and
program goals will the unit
address?
Science Practice (connection to
internship):
Construct explanations and design
solutions
Standard:
Apply scientific and engineering
ideas to design, evaluate, and
refine a device that minimizes the
force on a macroscopic object
during a collision
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Transfer
Systems can be designed to cause a desired effect (cause and effect)
A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices,
Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas
Understandings
Meaning
Essential Questions
If a system interacts with objects
outside itself, the total momentum
of the system can change.
How can physical concepts explain
why collisions can be so
dangerous?
Momentum changes are balanced
by changes outside the system.
How can the danger of an impact
be reduced?
Decisions about the priority of
What implications do
certain criteria over others (trade- conservation laws and forces have
offs) may be needed.
for safety systems?
HS-PS2-3
Use mathematical representations
to support the claim that the total
momentum of a system of objects
is conserved when there is no net
force on the system.
HS-PS2-2
A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices,
Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas
A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices,
Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas
Students will know …
Acquisition
Students will be skilled at
Momentum is a physical value
calculated by taking the product
of mass and velocity.
Solving different types of
unfamiliar problems in both
conventional and innovative ways.
The momentum of the universe is
conserved.
Elaborating, refining, analyzing,
and evaluating their own ideas in
order to improve and maximize
creative efforts.
Impulse is a physical value
calculated by taking the product
of the force applied and the time
applied for.
Demonstrating originality and
inventiveness in work and
understanding the real world
Change in momentum and impulse limits to adopting new ideas
are equivalent values.
Determining the appropriate
Increasing the time of a collision
approach when presented with a
does not affect the change in
complex problem
momentum of the system, but does
affect the size of the forces
experienced by the system.
2
UBD UNIT PLAN
Stage 2 - Assessments
Performance Task (in GRASPS format)
Goal: Your task is to design a parachute system capable of delivering an aid package safely when dropped
from an airplane.
Role: You are the lead mathematician/physicist and have been asked to design and evaluate the system
by performing both theoretical calculations and multiple field tests.
Audience: You need to convince the aid organization that your design is both scientifically sound and is
the most cost effective option.
Situation: A foreign aid company has decided to start delivering aid to a remote location. They need to be
sure that deliveries as a fragile as an egg will land safely on the ground when dropped from a plane at the
lowest possible cost.
Products/Performance/Purpose: You will need to develop a technical and a business argument in
order to justify and support your design. You will also create a sketch and a prototype of your design so
that it can be tested.
Standards/Criteria for Success: Your arguments needs to presented to the standard of a professional
written report and should include compelling evidence both from the scientific theory that you know and
the testing that you perform. They should not only explain why the design you chose is the best, but also
why other designs that you or others have tried are not. Your sketch needs to be computer generated
with all materials labeled along with their dimensions. You should also include any notes that are
important to the design of your parachute. Your prototype needs to be able to attach to a carton of eggs
and allow the eggs to land safely when dropped from the football bleachers.
Other Evidence: (quizzes, tests, prompts, work samples, labs, etc.)
Momentum Lab: Using motion sensors and dynamics carts, students will investigate the relationships
between mass and velocity during collisions to discover that the product of mass and velocity is a
conserved quantity and complete a formal written lab report.
nTIPER prompts: Students will complete conceptual ranking tasks involving impulse, momentum, and
collisions and turn in rankings along with written justifications.
Quizzes: Students will complete 2 content quizzes, one involving momentum calculations during
collisions and one involving impulse-momentum theory. Students will complete an additional lab based
on lab and project experience in which they are asked to develop a testing procedure to determine the
effectiveness of airbags.
Test: Unit test including conceptual multiple-choice questions and multi-part free response questions
involving the concepts of impulse and momentum.
Student Self-Assessment and Reflection
Students will use a provided rubric to “self-grade” their project before turning it in.
Students will complete exit slips like “KWL” (know, want to know, learned)
Following the conclusion of the unit, students will journal in their notebook about how impulse and
momentum relate to them personally and the world, what they struggled with, and what they were
successful with.
University of Arizona College of Education/Teachers in Industry 3
UbD Unit Plan
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
1. Begin by showing students a couple video clips of dramatic collisions (mythbusters?)
and asking them to take a moment to journal in their notebooks about why they think
collisions are so dangerous, what determines how dangerous they are, and how danger
could be reduced. H, O
2. Introduce the unit by explaining the questions they answered in their journal will be
the essential questions in this unit in which they will ultimately be an engineer designing
a safety system. W
3. In collaborative groups, students complete an nTIPERS ranking task in which they
must rank several different types of collisions and justify their rankings. Groups decide
how they will work together but all students’ ideas must be present. R, T, O
4. Each day in class students complete an exit slip recording the most important thing
that they learned, at least one question that they have, and anything they struggled with
or still need more help with. R, E-2
4. Students complete an impulse and momentum lab to discover mass*velocity is
conserved. E
5. Students present the findings of their lab to the class, discussion is prompted by
teacher, and new terms (momentum/impulse) are defined based on data. E, E-2, R
Pre-Assessments
What pre-assessments will you use to
check student’s prior knowledge,
skill levels, and potential
misconceptions?
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Progress Monitoring
• How will you monitor students’
progress toward acquisition, meaning,
and transfer, during lesson events?
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7. Students practice impulse and momentum calculations with word problems (emphasis
placed on problems that involve things like parachutes to connect to performance task).
W, H, E, O
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9. Class demonstration – impulse momentum theory. Recognizing that impulse and
change in momentum are equal by comparing the area under graphs of force and velocity
during a collision. E
10. Students practice impulse-momentum theory calculations with an emphasis on safety
systems (air bags, reduction of force on a baseball players glove, etc) to tie in with
performance task. W, E, O, H
11. Students complete quiz on impulse-momentum theory calculations. Have the
opportunity to evaluate and correct answers in small groups after the quiz to earn some
points back. R, E-2
12. Students are introduced to the full performance task and materials and groups meet
to determine job responsibilities and action items. Group discussions, individual ideas,
and assigned action items are recorded. W, H, T, O
13. Students bring in a rough draft of their proposals and share with another group.
Other groups marks it up and provides feedback. Teacher spot checks and provides input.
Daily exit slips
Improvements on nTIPERS
Lab explanations
Worksheets/quizzes in class
• What are potential rough spots and
student misunderstandings?
6. Students complete the same nTIPERS ranking task and compare their answers and
justifications to their previous results. R, E-2
8. Students complete quiz on impulse and momentum calculations. Have the opportunity
to evaluate and correct answers in small groups after the quiz to earn some points back.
E-2
Initial journal entry
Initial nTIPERS ranking
task
First day of unit exit slip
Many students believe that
air bags help because they
are “soft”.
Many students think that
slowing a collision down
reduces the change in
momentum.
Many students have
difficulty understanding that
impulse and CHANGE in
momentum are equivalent.
• How will students get the feedback
they need
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Returned exit slips
Quiz corrections
Homework/classwork
input from teacher
Teacher check-in on
project progress
4
UBD UNIT PLAN
R, E-2
14. Students bring in first prototype and test at bleachers. Record successes and areas for
improvement and begin revisions. (students may test additional prototypes if they would
like later) R, E-2, O
15. Final proposals and final prototype are due, prototype is tested at the bleachers,
proposals are turned in along with group self-evaluations, reflections, and evaluations of
group member performance. E-2
16. Students complete a quiz in which they must design a testing protocol to test the
effectiveness of a new airbag. R, O
17. Students complete a formal written test including MC and FR items. R, O
• Are all three types of goals (acquisition, meaning, and transfer) addressed in the learning plan? Yes, all three types of goals are addressed.
• Does the learning plan reflect principles of learning and best practices? Yes, the learning reflects the principles of learning and best practices.
• Is there tight alignment with Stages 1 and 2? Yes, there is a tight alignment.
• Is the plan likely to be engaging and effective for all students? Yes, it is likely to be engaging.
University of Arizona College of Education/Teachers in Industry 5
UbD Unit Plan
APPENDICES
1. Connection to Internship
My experiences at APS were centered on problem solving. Our goal within the Chemistry
Technical Support Team was to evaluate the nature of a problem, design a potential solution, track
and analyze the results, and then determine if further action was necessary. As I was working in
the Chemistry department, I did not experience much content that I could directly bring back to
my classroom, but I did try to incorporate the spirit of problem solving. I tried to incorporate this
by asking students to design their own parachute system in order to protect a package of eggs. In
order to do so, they will need to research, perform tests, evaluate their results, and redesign.
Students will also have to evaluate priorities in determining how to minimize costs and appeal to a
client from a business perspective, while still completing the task at hand.
Additionally, during the time that I spent at APS, I noticed a significant amount of collaboration
and work done in groups or teams. As part of this unit, students will need to interact with one
another in order to complete their task. This ties in with my action research project as they will be
using the documentation system to assign tasks to one another and document their work. They
will need to take each other’s opinions and perspectives into account and learn to compromise.
Part of their evaluation will be based on how well they worked in their group based on
documentation and evaluations from their peers.
2. Resources and Technology Integration
Key Resources: Computers, internet access, youtube crash videos, air-tracks, dynamics carts,
force sensors, motion sensors, photogates, logger-pro, eggs and cartons, string, several different
parachute materials.
Internet Resources: Youtube (videos of crashes), online parachute research/tutorials,
physicsclassroom.com (tutorials on impulse and momentum), google docs (group collaboration)
Technologies that will Enhance Learning: use of data collection software (force sensors, motion
detectors, etc) to analyze data in both labs and with prototypes. Use of loggerpro to graph and
analyze data in order to uncover mathematical relationships.