IB DP Physics lesson pack on free fall and vertical motion under gravity, Topic A.1 Kinematics, SL and HL, first assessment 2025. Students apply the four equations of motion to bodies that are dropped, thrown down and thrown up, with the sign discipline vertical motion demands and the acceleration of free fall g = 9.8 m s⁻². Editable worksheet, lesson deck, teacher key, worked solutions and a questions-only assessment, supplied as self-contained HTML plus colour and black-and-white PDFs.

What students learn

• Free fall and the acceleration of free fall.
• When air resistance can be neglected.
• Sign discipline in vertical motion.
• Applying the equations under gravity.
• Reading g from a graph.

IB Skills:

• Appreciating when an effect can be neglected (taught).
• Selecting and manipulating equations (practised).
• Linearizing graphs (practised).
• Plotting graphs with suitable scales and axes (practised).
• Drawing a line of best fit (practised).
• Interpreting features of a graph (practised).

What’s in the pack

• Student Worksheet: 13 pages
• Teacher Key:
• Solutions:
• Assessment:
• Lesson deck: 30 slides

IB alignment

Written for the IB DP Physics guide (first assessment 2025), Topic A.1 (Kinematics), at both Standard and Higher Level. The pack develops one of the topic’s understandings, the equations of motion for uniformly accelerated motion (s = ½(u + v)t, v = u + at, s = ut + ½at² and v² = u² + 2as), in their application to free fall and vertical motion under gravity with a constant g close to the Earth’s surface. It stays on its declared scope: it applies the equations to one-dimensional vertical motion and leaves projectile motion, the resolution of motion into components, and non-uniform acceleration to the follow-on packs. SI units, IB notation and IB command terms are used throughout.

The pack is self-contained: the four equations of motion are recalled in a reminder box, so it can be taught on its own or as the second half of a kinematics unit. The worksheet and deck are self-contained HTML files that open in any modern browser with nothing to install, and the worksheet is fully editable, so every question and number can be adapted to your class. Suitable for ages 16–19 as a first-teaching lesson, cover lesson, homework or revision.