Kinetic and Potential Energy Worksheets

About this resource

Teaching kinetic and potential energy and want pages students can actually work on? This is a complete unit for grades 6-8 on the two main kinds of energy in motion and position: what each one is, what it depends on, and how energy changes form as a roller coaster or a pendulum moves. It starts with two short readings and four energy cards, then moves to matching, a labeled roller coaster and pendulum, a fill-in chart for what changes as an object falls or rises, true or false, short answers and explain-it boxes, and two cut-and-paste sorts. Every student page has a "My name" line, one short instruction and real room to write. Answer keys cover every item, and a tracker, a class grid, a team note and a family page are included.

Friction is ignored wherever a page says so. The file uses no formulas: students compare, label and explain.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (39 sheets)

• 23 student sheets in 15 kinds of sheet, each with a name line and one short instruction
• 93 scored items on 14 sheets, every key built from the same heights and lists that draw the page
• 2 readings with 3 multiple-choice questions each and a main-idea box
• 4 energy cards on 2 sheets (kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy, mechanical energy), each with a picture and what it depends on
• 1 vocabulary match: 6 words (kinetic energy, potential energy, gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy, mechanical energy, friction)
• 1 worked example (which kind of energy?) with a guided copy to fill in
• 1 who-am-I sheet: 8 clues, each named with one of 4 kinds of energy
• 2 labeling sheets: 5 points (A to E) on a roller coaster, and 4 positions on a pendulum, each labeled highest PE, highest KE, PE and KE equal, or neither is highest
• 1 fill-in chart: what happens to height, potential energy, speed and kinetic energy for 3 motions (12 blanks), plus a shade-the-bars strip for the coaster at one point
• 2 true-or-false sheets (12 sentences), each sheet ending with a fix-it box for a false sentence
• 2 short-answer sheets: 6 questions with 4 ruled lines each
• 2 explain-it sheets: 6 prompts, each with a five-line box and a sentence starter
• 1 Find the Mistake sheet (4 sentences from an invented student)
• 2 quizzes (12 items); 1 exit-ticket sheet (3 tickets); 1 self check (8 statements)
• 24 cut-and-paste pieces on 2 sort mats: 12 pieces (kinetic or potential), 12 pieces (kinetic, gravitational or elastic); each sheet has 12 pieces in a 4 by 3 grid, edge to edge
• 5 answer key sheets; 1 tracker, 1 class grid, 1 team note, 1 family page
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (17 starters in 6 groups)
• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page sheet

Built For The Student Holding The Page

A "My name" line, one short instruction with a small picture cue, and a double-rule border. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult: the keys and records are on separate teacher sheets. Writing boxes hold three or more ruled lines, and the explanation boxes hold five. The roller coaster and the pendulum are drawn, not described. The file prints clean in black and white.

The Roller Coaster And The Pendulum

The coaster starts from rest at A, the highest point. Point B is the lowest, so it has the most kinetic energy. Point C is halfway up from B to A, so its potential energy and kinetic energy are equal. Points D and E are neither the highest nor the fastest. The pendulum's two ends are its highest points (speed zero, most potential energy), its bottom is its fastest point, and position 4 is halfway up, where the two are equal. The key explains each answer from the drawn heights.

Invented Examples

The students in the filled example and the mistake sheet are made up and say so. The short-answer and explain-it sheets have no single right sentence: the key says what to look for.

Type In, Or Print

The name line, every answer box, every check box and every ruled work box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. You can also print any page. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A kinetic and potential energy practice set with the record-keeping around it. It is not a lab, a timed test, a screener, a clinical tool, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file, and it does not claim to match any one state's standards: there is a line on the tracker for your own.

If You Want More

Forms of Energy Worksheets | Sort, Match, Energy Chains, Write 6th-8th Grade; Energy Transformations Worksheets | Energy Chains, Sort, Write 6th-8th Grade.