Energy transfer in collisions gives Grade 4 students a way to explore how the speed of moving objects can affect what happens when they collide. Through familiar examples such as rolling balls, toy cars, bowling pins, swinging balls, and soccer balls, students observe changes in motion and use evidence to make predictions.

What Students Explore

Students examine how a moving object can transfer energy to another object during a collision. They consider how a faster-moving ball may cause a greater change in another object's motion, how a stationary object can begin moving after being struck, and how colliding objects may slow down or change direction. The passages also introduce sound and vibrations as possible results of a collision.

Each example offers a different situation to think about. Rolling balls and toy cars help students compare motion at different speeds. Bowling pins show how objects can move apart after contact. A swinging-ball chain illustrates energy transfer through a group, while soccer balls provide an opportunity to consider changes in direction, sound, and vibration.

Reading and Science Skills

This main idea and supporting details reading organizer combines informational science reading with evidence-based thinking. Students identify the central idea of each passage, find details that support it, and restate those details in an organizer. The reading also encourages students to observe carefully, compare collision outcomes, ask questions, and predict what might happen in a new situation.

• Identify the main idea in a science passage.
• Select supporting details about speed, motion, and energy transfer.
• Explain how collisions can change an object's speed or direction.
• Use observations to make predictions about what happens when objects collide.

What Is Included

• Informational reading passages about familiar object collisions.
• Main idea and supporting details graphic organizers.
• Picture plans connected to the objects and situations described in the passages.
• Organizer answer content with a main idea and supporting details for each reading.

Classroom Use

Use this Grade 4 science reading activity during a unit on collisions and energy conversion, as independent reading practice, or in a small-group lesson. Students can read a passage, highlight its main idea and supporting evidence, then transfer their thinking into the organizer. The familiar examples also provide starting points for class discussions about what students notice when objects move at different speeds and meet.

Connected to the topic of NGSS 4-PS3-3, this resource focuses on using observations of motion and collisions to ask questions and make predictions about changes in energy and movement.