Forces are fun
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- apply push and pull forces to move an object along a winding pathway, changing its direction and speed.
- identify and describe specific push and pull forces that caused changes in the direction or motion of the object during the activity.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- contribute to a shared representation of how the course was navigated.
- construct sentences describing how they navigated the course.
In this lesson, assessment is formative.
Feedback might focus on:
- students’ use of push and pull forces to navigate the course.
- students’ description of how they used push and pull forces to navigate the course.
Whole class
Access to a large space for marking out the winding course/s e.g. hall, gym, school grounds
Masking tape or chalk to outline the winding course/s for students to navigate
Objects to create obstacles on the course, e.g. cones, boxes
Each group
A lightweight object (a ball, a bottle, a toy car) that students can push or pull through the winding course
A bat or paddle that students can use to move the item through the winding course
A container, large enough to fit the group’s lightweight object in, that can be pulled through the winding course
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Lesson
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkRe-orient
Play a game of Simon Says, with a focus on the directions “forwards”, “back”, “up”, “sideways”, “down”, “left” and “right”. Also include the term “still”. For example: Simon says jump forward, Simon says sit down, Simon says stand still.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkIdentifying and constructing questions is the creative driver of the inquiry process. It allows students to explore what they know and how they know it. During the Inquire phase of the LIA Framework, the Question routine allows for past activities to be reviewed and to set the scene for the investigation that students will undertake. The use of effective questioning techniques can influence students’ view and interpretation of upcoming content, open them to exploration and link to their current interests and science capital.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to spend some time considering the mindset of students at the start of each Inquire phase. What do you want students to be thinking about, what do they already know and what is the best way for them to approach the task? What might tap into their curiosity?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkNew directions
Define the term “direction”: the path that something moves, faces or points towards.
Relate that to the terms students just experienced during Simon Says and display these words for students.
Pose the question: How can we change an object’s direction?
Students will likely not have a clear answer to this question. By the end of the lesson they will understand that the answer is “with push and pull forces”.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkThe Investigate routine provides students with an opportunity to explore the key ideas of science, to plan and conduct an investigation, and to gather and record data. The investigations are designed to systematically develop content knowledge and skills through increasingly complex processes of structured inquiry, guided inquiry and open inquiry approaches. Students are encouraged to process data to identify trends and patterns and link them to the real-world context of the teaching sequence.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment (Launch phase) that identified the alternative conceptions that students held. Are there activities that challenge these ideas and provide openings for discussion? What content knowledge and skills do students need to be able to complete the final (Act phase) task? How could you systematically build these through the investigation routines? Are there opportunities to build students’ understanding and skills in the science inquiry processes through the successive investigations?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkNavigation challenge
Use chalk or masking tape to mark a winding path on the ground/floor which includes curves and left and right turns. Include some obstacles/barriers on the path in the form of cones, boxes etc. so that students are required to change the direction the object is travelling in as they move through the course. You might make this into a minigolf course by including a tee and a hole or cup for students to guide an object into at the end of the course.
Working in teams, students move a lightweight object (a ball, a bottle, a toy car) through the course using pushes and pull, first using just their hands and feet, and then using an object such as a bat or paddle. Next place the object inside a box or container and have teams pull the container through the course. The object, or box it is in, must maintain contact with the ground/floor at all times.
You can set up one large course or several smaller courses for students to complete. Teams may repeat the course as many times as needed.
The Inquire phase allows students to cycle progressively and with increasing complexity through the key science ideas related to the core concepts. Each Inquire cycle is divided into three teaching and learning routines that allow students to systematically build their knowledge and skills in science and incorporate this into their current understanding of the world.
When designing a teaching sequence, it is important to consider the knowledge and skills that students will need in the final Act phase. Consider what the students already know and identify the steps that need to be taken to reach the level required. How could you facilitate students’ understanding at each step? What investigations could be designed to build the skills at each step?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkFollowing an investigation, the Integrate routine provides time and space for data to be evaluated and insights to be synthesized. It reveals new insights, consolidates and refines representations, generalises context and broadens students’ perspectives. It allows student thinking to become visible and opens formative feedback opportunities. It may also lead to further questions being asked, allowing the Inquire phase to start again.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the diagnostic assessment that was undertaken during the Launch phase. Consider if alternative conceptions could be used as a jumping off point to discussions. How could students represent their learning in a way that would support formative feedback opportunities? Could small summative assessment occur at different stages in the teaching sequence?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkChanging direction
In the following Integrate routine, students are guided to link their experiences with using pull/push forces to move an object with the science explored: that a push or pull makes an object change direction. Through questioning and discussion, students should come to a consensus that:
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Students share their experiences moving the object through the course.
- Which way did the object go first?
- Did it keep going straight the whole time?
- What made it turn?
- When you pushed it from the side, what happened?
- When you pulled it toward you, what happened?
- Can a push make something turn? How?
- Can a pull make something change direction? How?
- If we don’t push or pull the object, will it change direction?
Create a diagram of the course and, with students, draw arrows on the course to show the movement of the object through it.
- Where did the object start?
- Which way did it move first?
- Where did it turn?
- What did we do to make it turn there?
- Let’s draw an arrow—which way was it going?
- Why does the arrow point that way?
- What did we do there—push or pull?
- Did that push change the direction?
With a partner students verbally construct sentences to describe how they moved the object through the course. Encourage students to use terms like “push”, “pull”, “left”, “right”, “forwards”, “backwards”, “still” when they construct their sentences.
The term ‘ball’ has been used below to represent the object that was moved through the course. This can be changed to suit whatever object students moved.
- I pushed the ball and it…
- The wall pushed the ball and it…
- I used a push to make the ball…
- The ball was going _______ and then it…
- When the ball hit the wall it…
- The ball changed direction when…
- I wanted the ball to go to…
- To get the ball in the hole I had to…
Record some examples in the class science journal.
Optional: Students write sentences to describe how they moved the object through the course in their individual science journals.
Reflect on the lesson
You might:
- add relevant vocabulary and images to the class word wall.
- discuss how students might use their experiences and what they’ve learned this lesson when designing their own activity.