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IB DP Physics open-inquiry practical on conservation of mechanical energy for Topic A.3 Work, energy and power, SL and HL, first assessment 2025: a trolley released from rest down a runway. Each group picks what to change (the distance run, the slope or the load), writes its own research question and hypothesis, and tests whether the kinetic energy gained equals the gravitational potential energy lost, within the uncertainty. Editable worksheet, 69-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

  • An aim asks whether; a research question asks how one quantity depends on another, over a range.
  • One row, worked with the class, propagates uncertainty through a quotient, a product, a square and a difference.
  • Ek against Ep, on one scale with both bars and the line Ek = Ep, decides the verdict across the range.
  • A pendulum question shows the other verdict: a loss too small to see is “not contradicted”, not “none”.

IB skills (Tools 1 and 3, and Inquiry 1 to 3):

  • Formulating research questions and hypotheses, and evaluating hypotheses (taught).
  • Identifying and recording relevant qualitative observations (taught).
  • Independent thinking and creativity in the design (practised).
  • Justifying the variables, the method and the range (practised).
  • Addressing safety, ethical and environmental issues (practised).
  • Propagating uncertainties in processed data (practised).
  • Plotting with uncertainty bars and a line of best fit (practised).
  • Justifying conclusions, and the impact of uncertainties on them (practised).

What’s included:

  • Student Worksheet - 21 pages
  • Teacher Key - 36 pages
  • Worked Solutions - 19 pages
  • Assessment - 12 pages
  • Lesson deck - 69 slides

Eleven questions carry 76 marks. The teacher key works a full sample dataset, notes what the slope and load routes show, and credits the reasoning, not agreement with the sample. Bench work and processing fill a 90-minute double period, with Questions 1 to 5 as pre-lab homework and 9 to 11 as the write-up. It is a skills practical and declares no IB understanding, with a Nature of Science note on energy that goes missing. SI units, IB notation and IB command terms throughout. Suitable for grades 11-12 (ages 16-19).

Part of the A.3 Work, Energy and Power Complete Unit Bundle, 30% off buying the packs separately.

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A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

Bundle

IB DP Physics (2025) A3 Work, Energy and Power Bundle

The complete Topic A.3 Work, energy and power unit for IB DP Physics, SL and HL, first assessment 2025: seven lesson packs, an open-inquiry practical, the SL and HL topic test and two maths skill packs, 30% off buying them separately. **What's in the unit** - Seven lesson packs in teaching order: Energy and Its Conservation; Work Done and Kinetic Energy; Gravitational and Elastic Potential Energy; Conservation of Mechanical Energy I; Conservation of Mechanical Energy II; Power and Efficiency; and Energy Density and Sankey Diagrams. - An open-inquiry practical, Investigating Conservation of Mechanical Energy: a trolley lab in which each group writes its own research question, as a full pack with its own deck. - The Topic A.3 test at SL and HL: Paper 1 (50 minutes) and Paper 2 (45 minutes), 25 marks each, with AO-tagged mark schemes. - Two maths skill packs: Gradients and Areas Under Graphs, with 33 answered questions, and Rearranging and Deriving Equations, with 43. Together the seven lessons cover all 14 understandings of Topic A.3, from the conservation of energy and the work done by a force to kinetic, gravitational and elastic potential energy, power, efficiency, Sankey diagrams and the energy density of fuel sources. The topic test assesses all 14. **Every lesson pack includes:** - An editable student worksheet - A teacher key with every answer and marking point - Worked solutions with every step and its units - A questions-only assessment with IB mark allocations - A choreographed lesson deck with staged reveals Across the seven: 137 student worksheet pages, 217 teacher key pages and 434 slides. **IB skills (mostly Tool 3: Mathematics):** selecting, manipulating and deriving equations; fractions, ratios, exponents and trigonometric ratios; resolving vectors and scale diagrams; proportionality; approximation, estimation and orders of magnitude; percentage change; derived units, unit checks and significant figures; gradients, areas under graphs and best-fit lines; propagated uncertainties and uncertainty bars; and, from Inquiry 1, 2 and 3, research questions and hypotheses, designing a method, qualitative observations, random and systematic errors, and justifying conclusions. Everything ships as self-contained HTML that opens in any browser with nothing to install, every worksheet editable, plus colour and black-and-white PDF of every document. The test's grade boundaries are set by YPhysics, not the IB, and you can edit them. SI units, IB notation and IB command terms throughout. Suitable for grades 11-12 (ages 16-19) for first teaching, assessment and revision. **Also in the catalogue, sold separately:** - [A.2 Forces and Momentum Complete Unit Bundle, the topic before this one](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/resource-13598977) - [Foundations of Motion: Distance and Displacement, a whole lesson pack in this format, free](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-13516114) *A rating helps other teachers find this.*

£63.00

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