Forces are fun
View Sequence overviewStudents will:
- identify and describe push and pull forces and their effects on the motion and form of objects.
- apply an understanding of push and pull forces to design an activity, making deliberate decisions about how forces will change an object’s speed, direction, and shape at each stage.
Students will represent their understanding as they:
- draw diagrams of their activity.
- represent the forces involved using arrows to show direction and magnitude.
- build and test their activity.
In the Act phase, assessment is summative.
Students working at the achievement standard for science understanding should have:
- identified that push and pull forces can change the motion of objects, making them move, stop moving, or change direction.
- recognised that push and pull forces can change the shape of an object, compressing it to make it smaller, or stretching it to make it longer/wider.
Students working at the achievement standard for science inquiry should have:
- made predictions about what would happen when others participated in their obstacles.
- made informal observations of what happens when their activities are completed.
- provided physical and visual representations of their activities.
- communicated their findings and ideas with everyday and relevant scientific language and conventions (arrows).
Refer to the Australian Curriculum content links on the Our design decisions tab for further information.
Whole class
Class science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Each group
Various sports or other equipment as used throughout the sequence, to inspire students when designing their activities and enable them to build, test and share activities
Each student
Individual science journal (digital or hard-copy)
Lesson
The Act phase empowers students to use the Core concepts and key ideas of science they have learned during the Inquire phase. It encourages students to develop a sense of responsibility as members of society—to act rather than be acted upon. It provides students with the opportunity to positively influence their own life and that of the world around them. For this to occur, students need to build foundational skills in an interactive mutually supportive environment with their community.
When designing the Act phase, consider ways that students could use their scientific knowledge and skills. Consider their interests and lifestyles that may intersect with the core concepts and key ideas. What context or problem would provide students with a way to use science to synthesise a design? How (and to whom) will students communicate their understanding?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkScience education consists of a series of key ideas and core concepts that can explain objects, events and phenomena and link them to the experiences encountered by students in their lives. The purpose of the Anchor routine is to identify and link students’ learning to these ideas and concepts in a way that builds and deepens their understanding.
When designing the Act phase of a teaching sequence, consider the core concepts and key ideas that are relevant. The Anchor routine provides an opportunity to collate and revise the key knowledge and skills students have learned, in a way that emphasises the importance of science as a human endeavour.
What have we learned?
Re-examine the data and ideas collected in the class journal over the course of the teaching sequence. This might include:
- definitions of push and pull.
- the effects of pushes and pulls such as changing direction or shape.
- recalling that an object requires a larger push force to reach a target farther away.
- images of students enacting these movements.
- diagrams that use arrows to show direction of movement.
Make a list of all of the students’ discoveries. To promote creativity, accept all responses but challenge the students to share evidence, e.g. using sentence starters We found out... or We know this because....
The Act phase empowers students to use the Core concepts and key ideas of science they have learned during the Inquire phase. It encourages students to develop a sense of responsibility as members of society—to act rather than be acted upon. It provides students with the opportunity to positively influence their own life and that of the world around them. For this to occur, students need to build foundational skills in an interactive mutually supportive environment with their community.
When designing the Act phase, consider ways that students could use their scientific knowledge and skills. Consider their interests and lifestyles that may intersect with the core concepts and key ideas. What context or problem would provide students with a way to use science to synthesise a design? How (and to whom) will students communicate their understanding?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkEach student comes to the classroom with experiences made up from science-related knowledge, attitudes, experiences and resources in their life. The Connect routine is designed to tap into these experiences, and that of their wider community. It is also an opportunity to yarn with community leaders (where appropriate) to gain an understanding of the student’s lives, languages and interests. In the Act phase, this routine reconnects with the science capital of students so students can appreciate the relevance of their learning and the agency to make decisions and take action.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider the everyday occurrences, phenomena and experiences that might relate to the science that they have learned. How could students show agency in these areas?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkActivity time
Repeat the activities that students participated in at the beginning of the sequence. Alternatively, use photographs of students completing the activities to prompt discussion.
Discuss each activity in terms of the pushes and pulls that were involved, and how students’ thinking or ideas have grown/changed as a result of their learning.
- What happened when you pushed the object/s?
- What happened because you pulled the rope?
- When you pushed harder, what changed?
- What happened when you stopped pushing?
- What happened because you used your whole body to push?
- If you didn’t push, what would have happened?
- If you didn’t pull, what would have happened?
- What made it easier or harder to move?
- What happened when you pushed in a different direction?
- Did you try to do anything differently when completing the obstacles compared to the first time you tried them? What did you change and why?
Encourage students to use the following sentence starters.
- When I pushed/pulled ___, it ___.
- Because I pushed/pulled ___, ___ happened.
- When I pushed/pulled harder, ___.
- The ___ moved because I pushed ___.
- It went faster when I ___.
- I made it move by ___.
- It changed direction when ___.
- I tried ___ differently because___.
The Act phase empowers students to use the Core concepts and key ideas of science they have learned during the Inquire phase. It encourages students to develop a sense of responsibility as members of society—to act rather than be acted upon. It provides students with the opportunity to positively influence their own life and that of the world around them. For this to occur, students need to build foundational skills in an interactive mutually supportive environment with their community.
When designing the Act phase, consider ways that students could use their scientific knowledge and skills. Consider their interests and lifestyles that may intersect with the core concepts and key ideas. What context or problem would provide students with a way to use science to synthesise a design? How (and to whom) will students communicate their understanding?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkWhen students use their knowledge and skills in new ways, they also have an opportunity to develop and use their creative and critical thinking skills. With scaffolded support, they can become more confident to work in a team and develop a stronger sense of autonomy. This results in stronger student outcomes, attitudes and sense of empowerment.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider what activity would allow students to showcase their knowledge and skills. Consider the current abilities of your students. What are they capable of explaining? What props could they design or build that would support their explanations? How much information would they need in their design brief to support their thinking? How does this connect with their lives and interests?
Design challenge
Define
Outline the task in a simple manner such as:
How can we design an activity that uses different types of pushes and/or pulls to complete, is fun, easy to set up, and that all students in the class can participate in?
Determine any criteria it might be appropriate to apply, for example:
- the activity/challenge should include at least one of the following:
- push and/or pull forces.
- big and small push and pull forces.
- an object changing its shape/form.
- an object changing its direction.
Ideate
Make a list of available equipment that students have easy access to for designing their activities.
Discuss any safety and accessibility considerations that might be required.
Brainstorm students’ suggestions for different activities/challenges or parts of activities. At this stage, to support creative thinking, every idea offered by students should be recorded in the class science journal. No idea is discounted, as the practicality of each idea will be considered later.
Divide each activity into two groups according to whether it involves a push force or a pull force. Discuss how some of the activities could be changed to need either a large or small force.
Revisit the list of equipment available and discuss if students could actually do the activities with the available materials.
Support students to identify the activity ideas that will be the most fun to complete and that use a variety of push and pull forces with the equipment that is available.
Prototype
In teams/pairs students discuss their ideas for an activity and draw a labelled prototype diagram.
Teacher note: At this age students may have difficulty agreeing on the exact design of an activity. It is fine if their individual designs differ, as students will be assessed individually on their recognition of push and pull forces acting in the activity.
Teams build and test out their designs, making adjustments to make their activity easier (if it’s too difficult to complete) or harder (if it’s too easy to complete). If students have different designs you might allow them to build and test both before deciding on a final version, or simply allow them to build each activity separately if resources and space/time allows.
Students draw a picture of their final designs and use arrows to label the push and pull forces involved. They construct sentences to explain the effect of those push and pull forces, or how they might be applied, for example: Give the ball a big push to get it to roll towards the far away target.
Alternatively, students can label photographs instead or record a video of themselves explaining their activity and how push and pull forces are used to complete it.
The Act phase empowers students to use the Core concepts and key ideas of science they have learned during the Inquire phase. It encourages students to develop a sense of responsibility as members of society—to act rather than be acted upon. It provides students with the opportunity to positively influence their own life and that of the world around them. For this to occur, students need to build foundational skills in an interactive mutually supportive environment with their community.
When designing the Act phase, consider ways that students could use their scientific knowledge and skills. Consider their interests and lifestyles that may intersect with the core concepts and key ideas. What context or problem would provide students with a way to use science to synthesise a design? How (and to whom) will students communicate their understanding?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkA key part of Science Inquiry, the Communicate routine provides students with an opportunity to communicate their ideas effectively to others. It allows students a chance to show their learning to members of their community and provides a sense of belonging. It also encourages students to have a sense of responsibility to share their understanding of science and to use this to provide a positive influence in the community.
When designing a teaching sequence, consider who might be connected to the students that have an interest in science. Who in their lives could share their learning? What forum could be used to build an enthusiasm for science. Are there members of the community (parents, teachers, peers or wider community) who would provide a link to future science careers?
Read more about using the LIA FrameworkCompleting others’ activities
Communicate
Set up the student-designed activities.
Teams take turns explaining how to complete the activity they have designed to the rest of the class.
Students participate in other teams’ activity.
Students share their ideas about the activities other teams created, including what was similar/different to their own activities, the push and pull forces involved, and the effect of those push and pull forces.
Reflect on the sequence
You might:
- revise what students have learned about push and pull forces, including how a change in strength can impact how objects move.
- consider the activities/games students have participated in throughout the sequence and how they involved pushes and pulls to move things.
- discuss other push and pull forces students encounter in their daily lives.
- review the class word wall and the terms related to push and pull forces.
- revise what students have learned using the class science journal.