Grades 6 to 8 Ages 11 to 14
Sports Physics Grades 6 to 8
Free online physics course · 12 weeks
A backyard physics field: speed, forces, gravity, friction, energy, collisions and a landing-pad design project.
Free Self-paced online course
A Rocket & Raven series
Sports Physics
A free online physics course for Grades 6 to 8: speed, forces, gravity, friction, energy and collisions measured in the backyard, plus a landing-pad design project.
Sports Physics is a free online forces, motion and energy course for Grades 6 to 8 that uses only things a family already has: a soft ball, a tape measure, a timer, masking tape, a cardboard ramp, a rubber band and a fridge magnet. Students set up the Field at home, keep a Field Log, and work the same questions as Rocket, Raven and Nova. Week by week they measure speed, test balanced and unbalanced forces, see how mass changes motion, time falling objects and read planet gravity from NASA data, compare friction on different surfaces, find out how mass and speed change kinetic energy, store energy with height and stretch, follow energy through a bounce, meet action and reaction with a balloon rocket, explore magnets and static as forces at a distance, and track the arc of a thrown ball. It ends with a landing pad the student designs, builds, tests and improves. Every fact comes from a NASA, NIST or university page listed in the course sources. Short lessons run Monday to Friday, with a hands-on Field Lab each week, and Saturday is Game Day with the family.
What's in every course
- · Grades 6 to 8, about 20 minutes a day
- · Twelve weeks, from measuring speed to your own design project
- · A physics field built from a soft ball, tape, a ramp and a timer
- · Reference data from NASA and NIST read as tables each week
- · Soft balls only, nothing thrown at anyone, drops from standing height
- · Speed, forces and energy taught the way the middle-school standards ask
- · A Saturday Game Day for the family, with a note for the grown-up
- · Free, start to finish. No card.
Courses in this series
The course is free, start to finish.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost? +
Nothing. Sports Physics is free from start to finish, with no card. A free parent account saves each student's progress.
What do we need at home? +
A soft ball (a tennis ball, foam ball or playground ball), a second heavier or lighter ball, a tape measure or ruler, a phone or kitchen timer, masking tape, a cardboard box or a few books for a ramp, a rubber band, string, a fridge magnet, clear tape, paper and a notebook. A balloon and a straw for one week.
Is there anything dangerous? +
Soft, light objects only: never a baseball, golf ball, bat or racket, and nothing is ever thrown at a person. Throws and kicks happen outdoors or in a cleared hallway away from windows and roads, drops are from standing height only, and magnets stay away from phones and small children. Every hands-on activity carries a safety note.
Does it use equations? +
Only speed as distance divided by time, with whole numbers and simple decimals. Forces, mass and energy are compared the way the middle-school standards ask: more force or less mass means a bigger change in motion, and kinetic energy grows with mass and even more with speed. Vectors and the full equations wait for high school.
Does it need an app or a website? +
No. Lessons are read on screen and the hands-on work happens in the backyard, driveway or hallway.