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Webquest · 8th Grade Physical Science · S8P2.a, S8P2.b, S8P2.c, S8P2.d

Energy Webquest

KE and PE Graphs, Transformations, Conservation and Heat Transfer (8th Grade)

Work through the stops in order. Each button opens in a new tab: finish that stop, answer on your webquest sheet, then come back to this page for the next one.

Start with Stop 1 ↓For teachers ↓
Students

How it works

1. Get your sheet

Your teacher gives you the webquest sheet (paper or digital). Every answer goes on it.

2. Open each stop in order

Each stop opens in a new tab. Use the sliders and buttons on that page — your answers come from what you see.

3. Come back here

Close the tab, tick Done, and open the next stop. Finished early with a partner? Play the bonus.

The webquest

Stops

  1. Stop 1 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 2, questions 1–6

    Energy Unit Intro

    Read the hook, pick a big question, play two activities.

    Open Stop 1 The first hill has no engineBig questionsExplore activities
  2. Stop 2 · about 10 min · your sheet: page 3, questions 7–14

    Simple Science Videos: Kinetic & Potential Energy, Energy Transformations, Heat Transfer

    Watch three one-minute videos and fill in the blanks.

    Open Stop 2
  3. Stop 3 · about 10 min · your sheet: page 4, question 15

    Vocabulary

    Flip the Word Wall cards and define 14 words.

    Open Stop 3 Word Wall (unit intro)Energy vocabulary
  4. Stop 4 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 5, questions 16–23

    Energy Part A: Forms of Energy and the KE and PE Graphs

    Sort the forms, push the box, run the graph lab.

    Open Stop 4 Part 1: Forms of energyPart 2: KE & PE graphs
  5. Stop 5 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 6, questions 24–31

    Energy Part B: KE ↔ PE on a Coaster, a Pendulum, a Rubber Band and a Bouncing Ball

    Launch the coaster, swing the pendulum, drop the ball.

    Open Stop 5
  6. Stop 6 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 7, questions 32–38

    Energy Part C: Transformations and Conservation, plus the Lab Bench Ramp & Roll

    Trace energy chains, audit the energy, roll a ball down a ramp.

    Open Stop 6 Part 4: TransformationsRamp & Roll: Energy Lab (Lab Bench)
  7. Stop 7 · about 14 min · your sheet: page 8, questions 39–44

    Energy Part D: Heat Transfer, plus the Lab Bench Mix It!

    Heat flow, conduction rod, campfire, cooler, then mix hot and cold water.

    Open Stop 7 Part 5: Heat transferMix It! Heat Transfer Lab (Lab Bench)
  8. Wrap-up · your sheet: page 8, questions 45–46

    Wrap-up: Solve the engine-less first hill

    Go back to the hook at the top of the unit intro and explain, with what you learned, what keeps Goliath moving for 4,480 feet with no engine, and why its first hill is the tallest.

    Open the first hill
  9. Bonus · for partners who are both finished

    Bonus: 1v1 8th Grade Energy

    1. Only when you and a partner have both finished every stop.
    2. One computer, two players: Red uses the W A S D keys and Blue uses the arrow keys. It needs a keyboard, so it will not work on a phone.
    3. Press Enter the Arena, pick a game, and play to 3 wins.
    Open the 1v1 game
Teachers

For teachers

Post this link for your students

https://www.tobinscience.com/webquest-8th-energy.html

Students move through six free tobinscience.com resources in order: the Energy unit intro (the engine-less first hill hook, Coaster Lab and Speed vs. Mass Showdown), three one-minute Simple Science videos (Kinetic & Potential Energy, Energy Transformations, Heat Transfer), the unit vocabulary, the full Energy section (Parts 1–5: the energy family tree, the push-the-box sim, the graph lab, the KE and PE calculators, a coaster, a pendulum, a rubber-band launcher and a bouncing ball with live energy bars, an investigation planner, energy chains, the energy audit, a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning builder, heat flow to equilibrium, the conduction rod, the radiation lamp, the campfire and a cooler to design), two Virtual Lab Bench labs (Ramp & Roll, Mix It!) and a 1v1 review game for early finishers. Every answer comes from what the page shows, matching S8P2.a through S8P2.d.

S8P2.a, S8P2.b, S8P2.c, S8P2.d · S8P2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the law of conservation of energy to develop arguments that energy can transform from one form to another within a system. (a) Analyze and interpret data to create graphical displays that illustrate the relationships of kinetic energy to mass and speed, and potential energy to mass and height of an object. (b) Plan and carry out an investigation to explain the transformation between kinetic and potential energy within a system (e.g., roller coasters, pendulums, rubber bands, etc.). (c) Construct an argument to support a claim about the type of energy transformations within a system [e.g., lighting a match (light to heat), turning on a light (electrical to light)]. (d) Plan and carry out investigations on the effects of heat transfer on molecular motion as it relates to the collision of atoms (conduction), through space (radiation), or in currents in a liquid or a gas (convection).
Time: about 80–85 minutes (two 45-minute periods, or one block)

What students need

  • One Chromebook or computer per student (the 1v1 bonus needs a keyboard and two students on one computer)
  • Headphones, or low volume, for the three one-minute videos at Stop 2
  • No student accounts or sign-ins; nothing to install

Every stop at a glance

Good to know

  • The intro challenges and showdown rounds, the scores, the chain-builder systems, the rubber-band distances (a few percent either way) and the Lab Bench mystery values are randomized, so those answers vary. The simulation readouts (push-the-box, graph lab, calculators, coaster, pendulum, rubber-band PE, bounce heights, investigation tables, chains, audit numbers, equilibrium temperatures, rod, lamp, campfire, cooler) are fixed, so those match the key.
  • Stop 1 activities award joules that are saved only on that device; students write their score on the sheet.
  • Formulas stay at the 8th grade level: KE = ½mv² and PE = mgh with g = 9.8, as in the notes (the Lab Bench rounds g to 10; the sheet says so). The Lab Bench shows a progress code when a lab is done; the verify tool on that page checks it.
  • The 1v1 bonus is for pairs who have both finished. It is head-to-head review of the whole energy unit.
  • The energy page also has endless practice (Part 6, a good warm-up the next day), worked examples (7), real-life cards (8), myths (9), the whole-unit practice set (10) and the vocabulary cards (11, used at Stop 3). The unit page also links Energy Park, a full game that is too long for a stop but makes a good extra day.
  • Short on time? Stops 1–3 make a good first day and Stops 4–7 a second day.
  • The printable student webquest and its answer key come with the Word / PDF webquest download. This page holds no answers, so it is safe to post.