IB DP Physics lesson pack on free fall and vertical motion under gravity for Topic A.1 Kinematics, SL and HL, first assessment 2025: the equations of motion applied to bodies dropped, thrown down and thrown up. Editable worksheet, 38-slide lesson deck, teacher key, worked solutions and a questions-only assessment, supplied as self-contained HTML plus colour and black-and-white PDF.
What students learn
- Close to the Earth’s surface, with air resistance neglected, every body falls with the same constant downward acceleration g = 9.8 m s⁻², whatever its mass or shape.
- Choose a positive direction and keep it: a = -g with up positive, a = +g with down positive. At the top of a throw the velocity is zero but the acceleration is still 9.8 m s⁻² downward.
- An 11-mark data question in the Paper 1B pattern on a ball fired up through a light gate. The graph of maximum height against u² arrives with error bars and a line of best fit: students derive H = u²/(2g), add one reading with its error bar, find g from the gradient and trace the intercept to a systematic error that leaves g unchanged.
- Five explained multiple-choice questions, and exam practice with a ball thrown down from a 25 m building and a two-phase water entry where the acceleration reverses.
IB skills (Tool 3: Mathematics, with Inquiry 3):
- Appreciate when an effect can be neglected (taught).
- Select and manipulate equations (practised).
- Linearize graphs, only where appropriate (practised).
- Interpret the gradient and intercept of a graph (practised).
- Draw and interpret uncertainty bars (practised).
- Identify and discuss a systematic error’s source and impact (practised).
What’s included:
- Student Worksheet - 15 pages
- Teacher Key - 21 pages
- Worked Solutions - 14 pages
- Assessment - 10 pages
- Lesson deck - 38 slides
A Nature of Science note frames free fall as a model, from a coin and feather in an evacuated tube to the hammer and feather on the Moon. A reminder box recalls the four equations, so the pack is self-contained. Worksheet and deck open in any modern browser with nothing to install, and the worksheet is fully editable. SI units, IB notation and IB command terms throughout. Suitable for grades 11-12 (ages 16-19) as a lesson, cover lesson, homework or revision.
Related resources:
- SUVAT Equations I: The Fundamentals, the lesson before this one
- Measuring the Acceleration of Free Fall, the topic practical (free)
- Fluid Resistance, what happens when the air cannot be neglected
Updated 16 Oct 2026: please reprint.
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