Teacher sheet · Ages 6–7 · about 45–50 minutes
Pushes and pulls
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/forces-and-motion/ages-6-7/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/forces-and-motion/ages-6-7/print/
Learning aims
- A force is a push or a pull, made by one thing on another.
- Forces can start, stop, speed up, slow down or turn moving things.
- Things do not start to move by themselves.
- Make and record a simple comparison.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Show a ball on the table. How can we make it move? Collect pushes and pulls. |
| 10 min | Read the text together and act out pushes and pulls. |
| 15 min | Big push, small push with toy cars in small groups. |
| 10 min | Play Push or pull? |
| 5 min | Quiz together. |
Materials for the experiment
- A toy car
- A smooth floor or long table
- Masking tape
- A ruler or a piece of string to measure
Safety: Push the car along the floor, never throw it. Keep the track clear so nobody trips. Stick tape only where the teacher says.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| A moving thing has a force inside it that runs out. | A force is a push or pull from something else; things slow down because the floor and air push against them. |
| Things can start moving by themselves. | Something must push or pull them. |
| Only people and animals make forces. | Magnets, the wind and the Earth's pull are forces too. |
Worksheet answers
- A drawing with one push (for example kicking a ball) and one pull (for example opening a door), labelled.
- No.
- The big push. A bigger push makes the car go faster, so it goes further before the floor and air slow it down.
Quiz answers
- What is a force? A push or a pull. A force is a push or a pull.[6][1]
- You open a drawer. Is that a push or a pull? A pull. You pull the drawer towards you.[6]
- A ball is lying still on the grass. What will it do if nothing pushes or pulls it? Stay still. Things at rest stay at rest unless a force acts on them.[2][4]
- What can a force do to a moving ball? Make it faster, slower or change direction. Forces change how things move.[1][5]
- What pulls a paper clip without touching it? A magnet. A magnet can pull a paper clip towards it.[6]
Going further
Roll the car on a carpet and on a smooth floor with the same push. Where does it go further? (This leads to the friction topic.)
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] Physics, 4.1 Force (OpenStax, Rice University): reliability High
- [2] Physics, 4.2 Newton's First Law of Motion: Inertia (OpenStax, Rice University): reliability High
- [4] Rocket Principles (Newton's laws of motion) (NASA Glenn Research Center): reliability High
- [5] Newton's First and Second Laws of Motion (NASA Glenn Research Center): reliability High
- [6] Forces and motion: what is force? (Monash University and Victorian Department of Education (Science Continuum F–10)): reliability High
- [7] What is Drag? (NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics): reliability High
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/forces-and-motion/sources/
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