Principles of the Physical World: Senior Cycle Physics · 5th Year

Active learning ideas

What Happens When Things Bump?

Active learning invites students to see the push and pull of forces firsthand, making abstract ideas about motion concrete. When students roll toy cars or swing pendulums, they connect classroom physics to real-world collisions, building lasting understanding through movement and observation.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary Curriculum - Science - Energy and Forces

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Experiential Learning
• 45 min · Small Groups

Toy Car Crash Tracks: Ramp Collisions

Build ramps with toy cars of different masses. Release one car to collide with a stationary car at the bottom, measure distances traveled post-collision using tape measures. Repeat with speed variations, record data on charts.

What happens when two toy cars crash into each other?

Facilitation Tip

During Toy Car Crash Tracks, remind students to measure the ramp height and track length precisely so they can compare speeds before and after collisions.

What to look for

Provide students with a scenario: 'A 2kg cart moving at 5 m/s collides with a stationary 1kg cart. Describe what happens to the motion of both carts immediately after the collision, considering their masses and initial speeds.'

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Experiential Learning
• 30 min · Pairs

Marble Run Collisions: Chain Reactions

Set up a straight track with gates for marbles. Launch one marble to hit a line of stationary ones, observe transfer along the chain. Vary marble sizes, note which moves farthest, discuss patterns.

How does a billiard ball move after hitting another ball?

Facilitation Tip

In Marble Run Collisions, challenge students to design a chain reaction with at least three marbles, encouraging them to adjust spacing and angles to achieve a smooth flow.

What to look for

Set up two toy cars with different masses. Ask students to predict what will happen when the heavier car collides with the lighter, stationary car. Then, perform the collision and ask students to describe the observed changes in motion, relating it to their prediction.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Experiential Learning
• 35 min · Small Groups

Pendulum Bumps: Swing Transfers

Suspend strings with bobs of equal mass. Release one pendulum to strike another at rest, measure swing heights before and after. Test unequal masses, predict and verify outcomes.

Can a moving object make a still object move?

Facilitation Tip

For Pendulum Bumps, have students release the pendulum from the same height each time to ensure consistent energy transfer for fair comparisons.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine a large truck hitting a small car. Based on what we've learned about collisions, what do you predict will happen to the motion of both vehicles? How does Newton's third law apply here?' Facilitate a class discussion comparing predictions and observations.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

Activity 04

• Experiential Learning
• 40 min · Whole Class

Billiard Table Mini-Games: Angle Shots

Use a low-friction table or felt with balls. Practice straight and angled shots, track paths with string lines. Groups compete to predict stationary ball paths accurately.

What happens when two toy cars crash into each other?

Facilitation Tip

When running Billiard Table Mini-Games, provide protractors and rulers so students can accurately measure angles and distances before and after shots.

What to look for

Provide students with a scenario: 'A 2kg cart moving at 5 m/s collides with a stationary 1kg cart. Describe what happens to the motion of both carts immediately after the collision, considering their masses and initial speeds.'

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Start with hands-on trials to build intuition before introducing formulas, as research shows concrete experiences anchor abstract concepts. Avoid rushing to conclusions; let students test ideas multiple times to refine their models. Encourage peer discussion to surface misconceptions early, using their experiments as evidence to correct thinking.

Students will describe how momentum transfers between objects, noting changes in speed and direction after collisions. They will use evidence from experiments to explain why some collisions look different from others.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Toy Car Crash Tracks, watch for students who assume the larger car always stops the smaller one completely.

  Ask students to adjust the ramp height to change the speed of the larger car and observe if the smaller car still moves forward after the collision, using their data to challenge this idea.

• During Pendulum Bumps, watch for students who think all motion is destroyed in a crash.

  Have students attach a piece of clay to the pendulum bob and observe the deformation while tracing the motion of the second pendulum after the bump, noting that motion continues even if objects deform.

• During Billiard Table Mini-Games, watch for students who think direction never changes in head-on bumps.

  Ask students to predict and test what happens when two balls of equal mass collide head-on, then have them adjust to unequal masses to observe partial transfers and directional changes.

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Methods used in this brief

• Experiential Learning