Newton's Third Law & Collisions Critical Thinking Prompts | Physical Science | Grades 6–8

This set of Critical Thinking Prompts pushes grades 6–8 Middle School Physical Science students past recall to analyze and apply Newton's Third Law & Collisions.

Sample prompts: "A heavy bowling ball rolling at 3 m/s strikes a lightweight plastic bowling pin head-on, sending the pin flying backward at high speed." and "A student claims: 'When I push on a heavy brick wall, the wall pushes back on me with an equal force; therefore, the forces cancel out and net force is zero.'"

What's inside: 10 open-ended questions, each with a follow-up prompt, a lined student response section, an answer key, and teacher notes.

Resource type: Critical Thinking Prompts (.docx). Format: editable Microsoft Word handout with approximately 1,210 words (~7 pages).

Classroom use: written analysis, discussion prep, or a Socratic seminar in a Middle School Physical Science course. Grades 6–8.

Format note: These files are delivered in Microsoft Office formats (Word and/or PowerPoint). If you open a worksheet that includes tables in Apple Pages or another non-Microsoft app, table formatting may not display correctly. For best results, use Microsoft Word or PowerPoint (or upload the file to Google Docs). If you run into any formatting issues, contact us and we can send a PDF version.