Teacher Instructions Grades 6–12 SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. ©2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and CBS Studios Inc. Students will complete a hands-on activity based on a scenario from the Scorpion television show to explore Newton’s Laws of Motion. Forty-five minutes, plus time to view the Scorpion episode Scorpion trailer, copies of “The Case of the Falling Satellite” activity sheet, calculators, large pans or trays, flour, marbles, rulers, scales 1. Find out how many students have ever heard of Isaac Newton. Call on volunteers to share what they know about him with the class. 2. Explain that Isaac Newton was a British physicist and mathematician born more than 370 years ago. He is famous for explaining gravity and the movement of planets. He also created three laws that we still use today to describe the motion of objects. 3. Pose this “Essential Question” for students to consider as they watch the Scorpion trailer: How might laws that explain how objects move be important to solve the problem faced by the Scorpion team? 1. Explain that in the upcoming season premiere, the Scorpion team must face a problem in which a Russian K12 satellite has been struck by debris, knocking it out of orbit and sending it toward Earth. Similar to the problem posed on the student worksheet, the Scorpion team must brainstorm multiple solutions and overcome setbacks in order to solve the issue before the satellite crashes to Earth. Tell the class that they are now going to put their teamwork and science skills to the test to investigate a similar problem. 2. Divide the class into groups and hand out the “Case of the Falling Satellite” activity sheet to each group. Read the introduction together as a class. It sets up the scenario the groups will be tackling. 3. Groups should use their own prior knowledge to brainstorm ideas to solve the problem and share them with the class. Encourage other groups to provide helpful feedback about why they think the ideas would or would not work. 4. Have the groups complete the Plan A portion of the activity. Remind them that they may need to convert numbers so they are working with like units. (Note: For simplicity’s sake, the provided equations don’t take into account the effect of air resistance on flying objects.) Circulate between groups as they work, helping any group who becomes stuck. 5. Explain that when objects follow a trajectory, Newton’s First Law is at work. It states that objects in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by another force. The reason the satellite doesn’t just sail forward through the air at a constant speed is because another force is pulling it toward Earth—gravity. This causes its path to curve toward the ground until…crash! 6. As a class, read the Plan B section of the activity sheet. Students will be faced with a worst-case scenario: They can’t stop the satellite, so they need to minimize its destructive power. Hand out materials and instruct the class to complete the experiment to show why a satellite crashing into land would cause major damage. 7. Review the groups’ answers to the conclusion questions as a class to assess their understanding of Newton’s Second Law. Discuss some of the variables, such as mass and velocity, that affect how large of an impact a falling satellite would make. Explain that the greater the distance an object falls, the more time it has to accelerate and gain speed. The greater the speed, the larger the impact. Have students research and build a simple catapult, and then design an experiment to test how speed and angle affect trajectory and the distance objects can fly. • MS-PS2-2: Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object. • 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. Next Generation Science Standards: Main Lesson: Part 1 Lesson Plan Main Lesson: Part 2 Goal: Time: Materials: Before You Begin: Extension Challenge: