Potential or Kinetic?

Potential or Kinetic? (Science Sort)

Eight everyday objects, two bins. Students read each one - a book on a shelf, a stretched rubber band, a speeding car, a flowing river, a battery, a gymnast mid-flip, a ball at the top of a hill, a rolling bowling ball - and decide whether it has potential energy (stored, not moving) or kinetic energy (the energy of motion). The potential bin is chosen to cover all three types the standard names: gravitational, elastic, and chemical.

What's Included

• 1 student page: 8 illustrated cards (potential / kinetic) plus a Sum It Up fill-in with word bank
• 1 teacher key page with the answer and a one-line reason for every card, plus a Big Idea box
• Letter-size PDF, no prep

How It Helps You Teach

• Practices the core 6.8A skill: tell stored (potential) energy from moving (kinetic) energy
• The potential bin covers gravitational, elastic, and chemical potential energy in one activity
• The Big Idea box notes that many real objects have both potential and kinetic energy at once

Pair It With

Part of a Potential and Kinetic Energy set: Reading in Science, this sort, Context Clues, Inferences, and Science in the News. Check out our library for the rest.

Perfect for 6th grade physical science, a science sort or station activity, an energy review, and TEKS 6.8A support. Topics include: potential energy, kinetic energy, gravitational, elastic, and chemical potential energy, stored vs. moving energy, and classifying energy.

Standards: TEKS 6.8A (compare and contrast gravitational, elastic, and chemical potential energies with kinetic energy); NGSS DCI PS3.A. Part of the Daily Science series by Workybooks.