Kinetic Energy for GCSE Physics (9 – 1)

GCSE Combined Science and Physics (9 – 1) Kinetic Energy: A practical lesson investigating kinetic energy and KE calculations for foundation and higher tier students for the energy section of the GCSE specifications with a PowerPoint presentation and student worksheets.

The lesson includes:

Starter activity: Students answer a set of questions to review their understanding of units and prefixes.

The PowerPoint presentation leads the students through a brief introduction to kinetic energy including the use of the formula and a simple practical to calculate the KE for a series of objects. A series slides use the ‘magic triangle’ method to show lead students through rearranging the formula for mass and velocity. Finally, a plenary going through a series of differentiated calculations.

Practical activity: Students follow a simple instruction sheet to measure the mass and velocity of different objects before calculating their kinetic energy.

Plenary activity: Students work through a differentiated worksheet to use the formula for kinetic energy. Answers are included with the worksheet.