Forces – steps
in the learning
journey
Early to
second level
• Planning
• Find out more about forces
• Learning and teaching ideas
• Snapshots of practice
• The 5 E’s constructivist approach
Planning
Interpreting the experiences and outcomes
The sciences experiences and outcomes require interpretation in order to bring
out the knowledge and understanding and skills involved. This involves identifying
key words and thinking about what learners might need to experience.
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Interpreting an experience and outcome
By investigating how friction, including air
resistance, affects motion, I can suggest ways to
improve efficiency in moving objects.
SCN 2-07a
One way to interpret a particular experience or outcome is to underline key words
and think about what they would mean in terms of learning and teaching. When
this is done, it quickly becomes clear that a lot is involved and that all the learning
would not necessarily happen in one topic or even one school year.
Teachers also need to consider what previous learning and experiences the learners
would need for the conceptual journey.
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Interpreting an experience and outcome - key words and phrases
........I can suggest ways to improve
efficiency in moving objects.
SCN 2-07a
Some possible examples:
• Comparing and contrasting different shaped
objects movement and how they are slowed
by friction.
• Investigating the effects on movement of
streamlining.
• Researching how designers design models to
improve aerodynamics.
• Learners designing and making their own
models.
• Changing variables and measuring effects.
• Looking at man-made examples and
examples from nature.
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Interpreting an experience and outcome - key words and phrases
By investigating ............
SCN 2-07a
Investigating
A range of skills need to be practised in
relation to investigating, inquiry and analysing
in the sciences. These are outlined in detail in
the sciences principles and practices paper.
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The concept development in the sciences
When planning for learning and teaching relating to a
particular experience and outcome or outcomes, it
can be useful to identify key concepts that will be
developed.
The concept development paper can be found on the
main sciences page of the Learning and Teaching
Scotland website and gives more detail about the
concepts involved in particular lines of development.
It can be used to plan for the development of
learners' scientific knowledge, understanding and
skills.
Line of development 07
At the early and first levels (SCN 0-07a and
SCN 1-07a), learners experience and explore .......
At second level (SCN 2-07a), learners can develop an
understanding of friction through exploring ..........
Read: Concept development in the sciences (PDF file).
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Contexts for learning
Science can be taught in contexts to
create enjoyment and relevance for
learners. Contexts can allow for depth of
learning and purpose if carefully planned.
Context can also create natural links
between subject areas. Links to the world
of work can provide specialist expertise
and knowledge.
Ideas for different types of contexts:
• Imaginary
• Real/authentic
• Related to challenges
• Science stories/topical science
Science lessons can also be taught in
discrete
subject
terms.
Where
appropriate, this teaching could be
related back to a context, for example,
looking at solids, liquids and gases to aid
understanding of friction between
different types of surfaces.
See: Ideas for contexts for learning about
forces (Word file)
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Reflective questions:
other factors to consider when
planning
• How will the design principles such as
challenge and enjoyment, personalisation
and choice and depth impact on planning?
• How will space be created for learners
ideas?
• How might the learners demonstrate/share
their understanding?
• Which resources/learning environments
might be used?
• Can value be added through an enterprising
approach, involving experts, giving learners
roles and responsibilities?
• Are there opportunities for collaborative
working?
• Which other curriculum areas naturally link
to this topic?
• How will assessment is for learning, actively
support learning and teaching?
Photograph taken during a class visit to the National Museum of Flight.
See: Extracts of plan at first level (Word file).
See: Extracts of plan at second level (Word file).
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Find out more about forces
View a series of workshops presented by Tom Clark for the Institute of
Physics about the teaching of forces
Newton’s Laws
Buoyancy
Friction
Gravity
Images from Rocket Challenge project
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Find out more about forces
The BBC Bitesize website is one online resource where teachers can
check the science behind a topic they are teaching.
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Learning and teaching ideas
Early Level
Stories can be used as a stimulus for creating interest, discussion, questions
and investigation.
Example – Using a story from the local paper – The Lorry Driver (idea from
Primary Upd8 a resource produced by the Association for Science Education)
Story – A lorry driver got lost and asked at a garage for help. An attendant drew
him a map but with the wrong directions. The lorry driver got stuck in a dead
end road and couldn't turn round. He tried to drive round a mini roundabout
but drove across it pushing over two trees and demolishing a brick wall.
He then panicked and hit the accelerator instead of the brake and smashed
into three more cars.
Learning space – Create an imaginary housing estate using a toy car mat.
Put in houses, plastic trees, people etc, create some walls with toy bricks. Have
toy cars and a lorry.
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Ideas for activities and investigations
• Introduce the children to the story about the lorry driver who got lost
• Let the children explore and play with the lorry and cars on the mat.
• What happens when the wall is hit?
• Discuss pushes and pulls. Ask questions to help them notice the difference
between big and little pushes and the effects on what happens to the wall.
• Investigate building walls in different ways to see which is best for stability.
• Provide different types of rough and smooth surfaces for the children to
experience so that they can feel the difference that the wheels rubbing over
different surfaces makes.
• Provide slopes for the children to play with the cars on and to use the different
surfaces with. Simple measuring tapes could help them to see the difference
between different surfaces.
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Links to other Curriculum Areas
• Show children how to use Roamer and to
programme it to go round a route on a
simple mat (links with numeracy).
• Create a scenario where a character was
nearly hurt by a car going too fast.
What can they do to help prevent
accidents? (links to health and wellbeing)
• Go on a walk to look at how cars can be
slowed down, safe ways to cross the
road.
• Provide materials for children to make
road bumps on a toy road and allow
them to play with seeing how they can
slow the cars down.
• People who help us – visits from lollipop
lady/road safety officer on safe crossing.
• Use resources from the children’s traffic
club nursery pack to help children
consider keeping safe with traffic.
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Fairground Science
Learn about the physics of fairground rides and
investigate slopes, weight, carriage size and shape.
Make use of virtual programmes as well as using
physical materials.
Use the virtual game from the Glasgow Science
Centre website to investigate the effects of friction
(rolling resistance and air resistance) on the motion
of the vehicle. By adjusting the materials used and
the design of the rollercoaster car, and using their STEMNET Contacts for Scotland
understanding of forces pupils have the opportunity http://www.gla.ac.uk/about/scienceconnects/
(West of Scotland)
to improve the design of a roller coaster car.
http://www.stemeast.org.uk/
http://www.glasgowsciencecentre.org/online/forces-at-thefunfair.html
(Glasgow Science Centre website)
Use construction equipment such as Lego and
K’Nex to build fairground rides to apply knowledge
of forces, strength of materials and the design
process. Schools can contact their regional
STEMNET coordinators to enquire about accessing
resources such as K’Nex.
(East of Scotland)
http://www.dundeesciencecentre.org.uk/
(North East of Scotland)
STEM-Ambassadors@uhi.ac.uk
(Highlands & Islands)
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Examples of lesson ideas in the context of rockets
Straw Rockets
Learning aims: to consider the forces acting upon their rocket and
observe their effects, to identify and test variables.
http://quest.nasa.gov/space/teachers/rockets/act5.html (NASA website)
Balloon rockets
Learning aims: to think about thrust, to observe how shape affects
motion, to revise that friction can be created between different
surfaces including solids, liquids and gases.
https://sciencebob.com/make-a-balloon-rocket/
(Science Bob website)
Investigation of fizz pop rockets
Learning aims: to isolate and measure variables, changing the shape
of the rocket, considering weight of materials, reporting on and
evaluating results.
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/rocket.shtml (NASA website)
Rocket Development
Learning aims: to investigate the development of rocket design, find
out some of the purposes of rocket use and to create a pod cast in
the genre of explanation as entertainment.
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/diypodcast/rocket-evolutionindex-diy.html (NASA website)
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Snapshots of practice
Early/First Level
Second level
A primary one/two composite class did a
project called Play Park. This involved:
• Looking at forces in the context of the
play park
• Creating their own model play
equipment
• Making use of new technologies to
record their findings at the play park
and communicate them to others
• Use of glow to share classes learning
with others.
See: Extracts from the teacher’s plan (Word file).
A primary 6 class did a project called
Rocket Challenge. This involved:
• Learning about forces in the context of
rockets
• Designing, building, testing and
evaluating their own rockets.
View the animated slide show – Rocket
Challenge.
See: Extracts from the teacher’s plan (Word file).
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The 5 E’s constructivist approach
The aim of this part of the resource is to consider
learning and teaching about forces through the
lens of the 5 E’s constructivist approach.
This approach is based on theory about how
learners learn and involves active exploration. It
has 5 main stages: engage, explore, explain,
elaborate, evaluate.
You can find out more about this approach and
the thinking behind it by visiting the Enhancing
Education website.
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Click on the links below to find out
more about the 5 stages of the
constructivist approach.
Engage
Explore
Explain
Elaborate
Evaluate
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Engage
In constructivist theory:
“The Engage Phase is designed
to spark students’ interest,
stimulate their curiosity and
raise questions for inquiry and
elicit students’ existing belief
about the topic.
Students’
writing, drawing and talk
provide an opportunity for the
teacher to assess students’ prior
knowledge,
including
any
alternative conceptions. The
teacher then takes account of
students’ existing ideas when
planning
future
learning
experiences.”
Australian Primary Connections
Reflective questions can be used to generate
curiosity and focus attention during engage
activities. When learners are encouraged to raise
their own ideas and questions this can lead naturally
into inquiry.
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Engage activities :
Can
• create excitement and interest
• provoke curiosity and wonder
• give learners an unexpected result
and should
• generate discussion/debate
• raise questions
• create natural reasons to explore.
Examples
• Tumble wing gliders when finding out
about flight (PDF file on ABC website)
• Pencil in a jar of rice that holds it up (to
think about friction) (PDF file on ABC website)
• A video clip that surprises e.g. a feather
and a hammer being dropped by Apollo
astronaut when challenging ideas about
gravity (NASA website).
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Engage - eliciting learner’s initial
ideas
At the beginning of a new topic it is necessary
to find out:
• which experiences learners already have
• previous knowledge
• possible misconceptions.
This can help teachers to decide on learning
activities which will build on what learners
already know and will help them to come to a
new understanding of concepts.
In the
sciences
children
can
hold
many
misconceptions which need to be challenged,
for example, that if an object is at rest no
forces are acting upon it.
“... It is only through this initial elicitation
process that we can provide experiences to
help children to modify these ideas.”
Knight, 2009
Read an article written by Professor Rupert
Knight for the Association of Science
Education’s Primary Science magazine on this
subject. (PDF file: Starting with what they
know)
(The magazine is just one benefit of school
membership of the ASE. More details on ASE
website.)
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Engage - eliciting learner’s initial ideas
Card sorts
Card sorts are one way
to find out learners’
previous knowledge,
identify
misconceptions
and
generate reasons to
further explore and
investigate.
Card sorts work best
when learners’ are
given opportunities, in
groups, to discuss,
where to put the cards,
share
ideas
and
challenge each others’
thinking. They can be
revisited as learners
discover more.
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True/False/Not Sure card sort used by a Primary 6 teacher
during a project called Rocket Challenge.
Engage - eliciting learner’s initial ideas
Mind maps
Mind maps are another
way to diagnostically
assess learners initial
ideas. A mind map could
be used at the beginning
and end of a project so
that learners can reflect
the on the knowledge
and learning journey.
Some other ideas:
Concept cartoons, using
a video clip to generate
questions, learning logs,
annotated
drawings,
letting children explore
equipment or objects.
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Engage - eliciting learner’s initial ideas
Misconceptions
Learners misconceptions form in a variety of
ways:
• they can be passed on from other people
• ideas and concepts can be combined
incorrectly
• learners can make judgements based on
too little evidence/experience
• the science is counter-intuitive to the
observed e.g. the Sun moving across the
sky
• everyday language confuses understanding
eg referring to kilograms as a measure of
weight when actually they are a unit of
mass.
This child has a theory that gravity is something
that is spent or used up.
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Engage - eliciting learner’s initial ideas
Common misconceptions
Learners’ often hold some common misconceptions about forces eg:
‘Earth has gravity because it has an atmosphere, therefore the moon has no gravity.’
‘Objects of the same shape but different weights fall at different rates.’
‘Slippery surfaces do not create friction.’
See more Children's Misconceptions about Science
(Operations Physics American Institute of Physics website).
How can we challenge these misconceptions?
• Use activities to elicit the learners’ ideas to open up discussion
• Structuring learning activities to help the students, through experience, discussion
and teaching construct new understandings.
See the presentation by Tom Clark, Field Officer for the Institute of Physics, which
looks at activities for challenging common misconceptions relating to forces
(PowerPoint file: Teaching forces).
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Explore
In the explore phase learners’ are given
opportunities to actively experience the
science phenomena of the topics and
develop their understanding of the concepts.
They should be involved in investigating,
collecting
evidence,
discussing
their
observations and keeping records. This
shared understanding is important to the
explain phase.
In this primary 1/2 class the children
explored pushes and pulls in the context
of toys. Through investigations, pupils
observed and gathered evidence about
how forces act on toys in air ,water, and
on the ground. Pupils were introduced to
the effect of the pull of gravity and learnt
that both air and water can 'push‘.
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Explore
During a rocket challenge project, a
primary 6 class explored making
one change to the design of their
rockets. They measured changes in
distance travelled and discussed
why they thought the observed
changes might have happened.
In another session they worked in
co-operative groups to explore how
flying objects worked. Reflective
questions helped them to observe
the effects of forces.
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Explain
In the explain phase of the constructivist
approach, learners are given opportunities to
represent their developing understanding and
discuss patterns and relationships.
Some form of literary product can be useful
here to help the teacher assess what the
learner has understood and offers natural
opportunities for formative assessment.
Literary products need not always be lengthy,
written pieces. Learners should be given
opportunities to: say, do, write and make.
Some examples of these products could be: a
scientific report, a written explanation, a talk, a
presentation, an annotated diagram, a
cartoon, a podcast, a vidcast, a poster, a
model, a drama etc.
Pupils can also discuss the current views and
work of scientists to deepen their own
understandings.
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Explain
During the explain phase the teacher can
introduce
scientific
terms
and
conventions to help the learners’ have a
shared vocabulary for the understandings
that they have developed in the explore
stage. Class journals and displays can be
used to record thinking and new learning.
Word walls, science glossaries and
writing/talking/listening frames can help
learners share their new understandings.
In one school project called Smooth
Moves, the teacher introduced forces
diagrams and the conventions for using
arrows to represent the direction and
different sized forces.
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Explain
During the explain phase the teacher has
the opportunity to formatively assess the
learners’ understandings of the concepts
they have been learning about. Here
learning goals that have been achieved
can be recognised and advice can be
given to help learners’ where they still
have
some
conceptual
misunderstandings.
It is also an opportunity for them to learn
how to improve their performance
against given criteria, using a range of
strategies including: analysing work using
rubrics, acting upon teachers’ and peers
comments, next steps and advice.
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Elaborate
“This phase of the 5 E's extends students'
conceptual understanding and allows them to
practice skills and behaviours. Through new
experiences, the learners develop deeper and
broader understanding of major concepts,
obtain more information about areas of
interest, and refine their skills.”
Enhancing Education CPB
Child testing a rocket he made as
a science/technology challenge
during the elaborate stage.
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Elaborate
One primary 3 class had been looking at
pushes and pulls, carrying out simple
experiments to see how different toys moved
over solids, through the air and through
water. In the elaborate stage they carried
out an investigation with paper helicopters
where they selected a simple variable to
adjust and recorded their results.
During their project Smooth Moves a primary
5 class had been investigating the forces
involved in objects moving over different
surfaces. In the elaborate stage learners were
given the opportunity to apply the skills
learnt during the project of measuring and
graph making to an investigation that they
planned themselves.
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Elaborate – challenges
Challenges are another way to deepen
learners understanding, giving them the
opportunity to transfer skills and concepts
to new and more complex situations. The
teacher can use this stage to assess
understanding of the earlier exploring and
investigating stages.
In order to be effective challenges need to
include some of the following features:
• clear goals
• success criteria
• opportunities to demonstrate skills and
new concepts gained
• learners take on roles and responsibilities
• choices involved
• higher order thinking
• the skills of more than one curriculum
area could be brought to the challenge
• Demonstrations
of
understanding/learning product.
This primary 6 class designed cars from
junk materials, tested how they
performed when blown by a hairdryer.
They had to consider, weight, balance
and
streamlining.
They
made
adjustments to their cars and retested
and evaluated their results.
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Evaluate
In the evaluate stage
learners’
are
given
opportunities
to
demonstrate their new
understandings
and
reflect on the learning
journey.
Summative
assessments can be used
in a formative way to
provide
information
about the learning.
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Evaluate
Learners should be given opportunities in this phase to reflect on their learning journey,
record their achievements and set next steps.
This approach ties in well with personal learning planning and information could be shared with parents.
Personal Learning planning in this way would share with the parents their child’s progress and help
identify places where they could support.
Curriculum for excellence, emphasises the importance of celebrating achievement. This could be done
in a number of ways. For example, sharing new learning with a wider audience in a class situation or
with parents/ carers at a science fair.
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The following acknowledgements are
printed to show that we have referred to
the materials of the Primary Connections
science project.
“We gratefully acknowledge the support of
the Australian Academy of Science
(www.science.org.au)
in
making
its
publications available to us for scientific
educational use.”
"Australian Academy of Science Primary
Connections
was
funded
by
the
Department of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations as a quality teacher
initiative under the Australian Government
Quality Teacher Programme
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