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Unit Plan – Goals, Objectives and Assessments

Unit Title: Designing a Safer Car Name: Paul Matsumoto

Content Area: Physics Grade Level: 11-12th
Next Generation Science Standards/Performance Expectations
 HS‐PS2‐1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a
macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration. [Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include tables or graphs of position or velocity as a function
of time for objects subject to a net unbalanced force, such as a falling object, an object rolling down a ramp, or a moving object being pulled by a constant force.]
[Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to one‐dimensional motion and to macroscopic objects moving at non‐relativistic speeds.]
 HS‐PS2‐2. 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. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the quantitative conservation of momentum in interactions and the qualitative meaning of this
principle.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to systems of two macroscopic bodies moving in one dimension.]
 HS‐PS2‐3. Apply scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate, and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a
collision.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of evaluation and refinement could include determining the success of the device at protecting an object from
damage and modifying the design to improve it. Examples of a device could include a football helmet or a parachute.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is
limited to qualitative evaluations and/or algebraic manipulations.]
 HS‐ETS1‐1. Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs
and wants.
 HS‐ETS1‐3. Evaluate a solution to a complex real‐world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade‐offs that account for a range of constraints,
including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.

Anchoring Activity

 Students will watch videos of crash test dummies in slow motion.

 They are told that they are going to take on the role of safety engineers and need to design a car which will reduce collision deaths during an accident.
 They are told to design a model drawing of the crash test dummies inside a car during a crash showing where they think all the forces are occurring with red
arrows.

Driving Question of the Unit
 How do we significantly and practically reduce the number of deaths form automobile collisions though better automobile design?

Unit Goals‐‐‐Describe what you want students to be able to do. For example, I wanted my students to be able to know when to use the epistemic practices when I
gave them verbal or visual cues. Students will need to be able to recognize science even if it is not in the verbal form. See the article “Outside the Pipeline:
Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists. A summary of the article is in the appendix of this unit plan template.
 Students will be able to solve problems using epistemic practices (designing and carrying out investigations, modeling, argumentation, using expository text).
 Students will be able to recognize epistemic practices and when they are being correctly implemented (i.e. they will be able to identify problems in the practice
attempting to be implemented).
 Students will understand the broader meanings of the disciplinary core idea beyond the problem they are solving so they can be applied to other problems.


Lesson 1 – Newton’s Second Law of Motion
Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:
Students will be able to explain the mathematical  Students will construct plausible models of the relationship between force mass and acceleration.
relationship between force, mass and acceleration both  Students will test the plausible models using a structured inquiry and verify which most accurately
qualitatively and quantitatively. describes the motion of a falling mass.
 Students will write a paragraph describing the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration with a
few real world numeric examples.
Lesson 2 – Conservation of Momentum
Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:
 Students will be able to derive the relationship  Students will derive an equation which relates impulse to the change of momentum.
between how long a force is applied (impulse) and the  Students will derive the conservation of momentum equations using impulse, Newton’s Third Law
change of momentum. of motion, and the relationship between impulse and the change of momentum.
 Students will be able to derive and test conservation of  Students will do a structured inquiry lab which verifies conservation of momentum using colliding
momentum using Newton’s Third Law of Motion and vehicles.
the relationship between impulse and the change of  Students will write a paragraph explaining how conservation of momentum dictates momentum changes
momentum. and impulse for collisions but not necessarily for forces, and what condition changes the magnitude of the
force.
Lesson 3 – Minimizing Force on an Object by Design
Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:
 Students will be able to using the academic terms  Students will each write a paragraph, using academic vocabulary, why increasing the time for a
(impulse and momentum) describe why increasing the momentum change will result in a smaller average force with all the appropriate equations.
time for a momentum change will result in a smaller  Students will construct a vehicle in a teacher‐initiated inquiry capable of falling 15 feet while protecting
average force. an egg within the vehicle so that it does not crack or break (students will be allowed to continue to
 Students will be able to design, build, and refine a redesign their vehicle to achieved a non‐broken egg).
vehicle capable of protecting an egg from a 15 foot  Students will write a paragraph describing which designs worked and which didn’t and why, using
drop (the design is not allowed to change the velocity content vocabulary.
of the falling object).
Lesson 4 – Analysis of Global Collision Deaths
Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:
 Students will be able to extract reliable data regarding  Students will find sources for data in a teacher‐initiated inquiry regarding global auto collision deaths,
global auto collision deaths. and investigate and provide a table relating the integrity of each source.
 Students will be able to compare the deaths due to  Students will report the finding of each source and where they differ, making reference to the integrity of
global auto collisions with other causes of death. each source.
 Students will be able to communicate the severity or  Students will combine the findings of each source to create a summary to determining the severity of the
non‐severity of the crises from the numbers. auto‐death fatalities with regard to other deaths globally.
Lesson 5 – Evaluating Solutions to Global Collision Deaths
Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence – Formative and/or Summative Assessment:
 Students will be able to evaluate current practical  Students produce matrix out in a teacher‐initiated inquiry lining the costs of current solutions of
solutions to reducing global deaths from auto reducing fatalities created by auto collisions, by showing the costs of current solutions and how
collisions. many lives these solutions have reduced since their implementation.
 Students will be able to communicate cost benefit  Students produce a table in a teacher‐initiated inquiry which projects the estimated costs of a
analysis of practical solutions to reducing global proposed solution and the projected number of lives likely to be saved by imposing the solution to
 deaths from auto collisions in comparison to global lower cost cars using manufacturing data of auto companies and statistical data of crash survival of
deaths from other sources and the amount of money automobiles using the proposed solution.
spent reducing deaths in those areas.
Unit Summative Assessment
 The students will write a paper, create a presentation or blog, or any format which the student wishes, outlining the hazards created by automobile collisions to their
passengers, and the ways in which they can be reduced by adjusting automobile design, especially the design of less expensive cars, and a cost benefit analysis to
determine the practicality of the solutions referencing the products of all five lessons.

Useful Websites:

https://www.khanacademy.org/
https://www.who.int/gho/road_safety/mortality/en/
https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a11201/why‐cars‐are‐safer‐than‐theyve‐ever‐been‐17194116/

Review: Outside the Pipeline: Reimagining Science Education for Nonscientists Science, April 19, 2013.

Summary of the Article:

How People Interact with Science

Individuals have different motivations for using scientific information. Factors that influence the use of science include social,
cultural, and demographic differences. In addition, the type of science that is useful differs from one problem or issue to
another. Science comes in a variety of forms such as experimentation, observational data or simulations or field research. One
goal of science education is to facilitate student understanding of what forms of science are best suited for the problems that
we are trying to solve. Students will need to understand that science is a flexible philosophical and methodological human
endeavor. The sub-goals of this BIG IDEA are as follows:
 Students will need to understand the context of a problem to understand what type of methods are needed
 Students will understand and interpret the scientific principles that “speak” to the driving questions and anchoring
activities presented in the coursework. The principles will change with subject matter.
  Students will engage in ill-structured problems, defined in personal and practical terms, to practice using different
principles and epistemic practices.

Knowing Science: From Knowing the Textbook to Accessing the Science you need

Science education should prepare more students to access and interpret scientific knowledge at the time and in the context of
need. Students will need to be able to read articles and the text book, draw on prior knowledge to interpret the text, and be
able to cross reference what is read with other materials. This is not simply the application of science for a particular problem,
this is reconstructing the science in valid ways to construct solutions. When it comes to planning science for students some
sub-goals of this major goal are as follows:
 To confront students with an ill-structured problem or challenge framed in an anchoring activity to extend their
existing knowledge and develop concrete solutions.
 To create a learning environment where students develop the skills to recognize when and how science is relevant in
their daily lives.
 To be able to cite textual based evidence to support or refute a claim (CCSS ELA)
 To be able to convert a phenomena into a mathematical model (CCSS Math)

Thinking Scientifically: From Practicing Science to Judging Scientific Claims

Students will need to engage in the epistemic practices of science in flexible and creative ways. The procedures that make up
the epistemic practices of argumentation, experimentation, modeling, and the negotiation of expository text are not static but
are guided by the cycle of scientific thinking. Students will rarely need to go through ALL the steps in a given epistemic
procedure in order to engage in scientific problem solving or research design. However, students will need to make
sophisticated judgments about credibility of scientific claims based on cues like publication venue, institutional affiliation, and
potential conflict of interest. In order to plan lesson that allow students to engage in this big idea teachers will need to set
some of the following goals:
 To help students understand how scientists evaluate evidence and how research is packaged for presentation. Engaging
student in argumentation and negotiation of expository text does this. Note: expository text will need to be presented in
more ways then just the textbook.
 To help students engage in peer review when teachers are planning an argument or negotiation of expository text.
  Students will engage in epistemic practices to examine a science-inflected social problem, with the goal of uncovering
epistemic and ethical nuances at the interface of science and daily life.
 To help students engage in and interpret scientific text.

Appreciating Science: From Positive Feelings to Deep and Durable Involvement

Teachers will need to create learning environments where students develop an appreciation of science and recognize how
science influences their daily lives. Students will need to connect with science though interest areas and following their
personal curiosities. Therefore, some of the sub-goals of the work science teachers do will be to:
 Facilitate students pursing their own science related interest, questions, and personal curiosities through project-
based; inquiry-based; and model based learning.
 Facilitate socio-scientific issue discussion in class.
 Help students identify and develop individual interest and expertise in the subject matter.
 Connect students with science resources in the community such as clubs, museums, projects, science fair, and business
that specialize in science outreach.
 Use science-based games to facilitate student interest and curiosity for science problem solving. Empowering students
to use the epistemic practices in their everyday lives and to own the practices for life long problem-solving.