Lesson: Yo-Yo Wizards

Discuss the role of kinetic energy and gravity in games and toys.

• Show students a simple toy, like a bouncy ball. Make the toy move and explain that when something moves, it has kinetic energy. Let students list other examples of kinetic energy in games or toys. (e.g., sports, toy cars, falling dominoes, etc.)

• Show students how the bouncy ball has potential energy, or stored energy, before it is dropped. Show how the potential energy turns into kinetic energy by dropping the ball from different heights. Pause with the ball held up to demonstrate potential energy once again.

• Ask: What force pulled the ball down to the ground? (gravity) How does gravity affect the games and toys that students play? (Gravity pulls a basketball to the ground, a skateboard down a hill, etc.)

Watch a video for more examples of gravity and kinetic energy.

• Tell students they will be exploring the science behind a specific toy: yo-yos. Invite students to share any experiences they have with yo-yos. Then share the video “Betty Gallegos in Action.”

• Ask them when they saw potential energy, kinetic energy, and gravity in Gallegos’s yo-yo tricks.

Read an article about yo-yo champions to explain the physics behind yo-yo tricks.

• Share the article “Yo-Yo Wizards.” Preview the photos and discuss the “words to know” vocabulary in the article. Have groups of students come up with their own examples of any unfamiliar words like axle. Discuss as a class.

• Read the article aloud.

• Have students collaborate to complete the article’s “Quick Quiz.” Discuss their answers.

Find examples of the science of motion in everyday surroundings.

• Share the “Science Scavenger Hunt” activity with students. Preview the vocabulary words as a class, having students model each one using a pencil. (e.g., potential energy: hold the pencil up high; axle: roll the pencil between your hands and imagine wheels on each end; friction: rub the eraser on the desk.) After students complete the assignment, let them share their favorite examples with the class.

Demonstrate understanding with critical-thinking questions.

• Share “Think It Through” skills sheet or digital quiz and read the questions as a class. Have students complete them and discuss answers. Have them to share answers to the last question about how they worked to learn a new skill.

⇨ Learning Journey: What is a skill that you’ve worked hard to improve? Create a video explaining how you improved with practice and effort at a sport, hobby, or skill. If you can, safely film yourself demonstrating the results of your hard work, like Betty Gallegos did with her yo-yo tricks.