Lesson 1

Teacher Candidate: Erica Lis and Amanda Johns

Group Size: 17 students Allotted Time: 25 minutes Grade Level: 3rd

Subject or Topic: What is a Force? - Matter and Motion Unit

Common Core/PA Standard(s):

3.2.3.B1 - Explain how movement can be described in many ways.

3.2.3.B2 - Explore energy’s ability to cause motion or create change.

S4.C.3.1 - Identify and describe different types of force and motion resulting from these
forces, or the effect of the interaction between force and motion

S4.C.3.1.1 - Describe changes in motion caused by forces (e.g. pushes or pulls, gravity,
friction)
Learning Targets/Objectives:
Students will complete the pretest for the unit. They will not be expected to meet any sort of
criteria on this assessment.
Assessment Approaches: Evidence:
1. Observation 1. The teacher will observe students
during the video and unit test to see
how they respond.

2. Summative Assessment 2. The students will be taking the unit

test as a pre-assessment so that we can
compare it to their post assessment.
Assessment Scale:
The test will not be graded but will be used to compare the end results of the unit’s lessons

Subject Matter/Content: Science - Force and Motion

Prerequisites: none- this is the first lesson
Key Vocabulary:
Force- the pushing or pulling of an object. A force can cause an object to change speed,
change direction, and change in shape or size
Motion- a change in position of an object
Content/Facts: Force and Motion

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
The teacher will begin by saying “How many of you have been to an amusement park
before?” Students will raise their hands to respond. “Do any of you know how theme parks
are made?” Allow some students to respond. “Theme parks are designed by people called
engineers. Engineers use their understanding of something called force to design rides
that work with forces.” The teacher will instruct the students to find the webquest in their
clever portal and go to the home page. “In this unit, we will be learning about forces so
that we can design our own theme park rides.”

Development/Teaching Approaches:
The teacher will show the students the general format of the webquest. “We will be using
this webquest every day for our science lessons. ” The teacher will show them how to find
today’s lesson. “You must click on the What is a Force? tab at the top of the webquest
and then click on today’s lesson which is also called `What is a force?’ Tomorrow’s
lesson and the next day’s lesson can both be found under this tab.”

Once the students have arrived on today’s page the teacher will continue, “On each page of
the Webquest there will be different things for you to click on and view. There are
videos on each page, some of them we will watch in class, others we will watch during
snack times, but there will be a few that we don’t watch. You can watch these during
your free time or when you are at home. They are just additional resources for you to
learn more about the topic for the day. There are also buttons on each page that will
take you to the Google Form for the day. Each lesson will have a Google Form for you
to fill out. Sometimes they will help to guide us through an activity and other times they
are for you to prove to me that you were listening and learning during the lesson. ”

The teacher will then play the video Force and Motion to introduce the concepts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUCYFof8QyA
“A force is anything that causes an object to move. Motion is the change of an object’s
position, which is where it is located.”

“Today we are going to take a quick survey to see if you already know about some of
the things that we are going to learn during this unit. Don’t worry if you don’t know
the answers to some of the questions, just take your best guess. In the end, we will take
this same survey again to see if you have improved and know much more about force
and motion than you do now. That’s the goal.” The students will click on the button and
then take the pre-test.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
“Today was only the first step to learning about force, motion, and simple machines.
After we learn about all of these topics, you will get a chance to design your own
theme park ride for our class park. Do you want to know the name of our theme park?
Hurricane Haven, got a nice ring to it doesn’t it? Tomorrow we will learn about the
two ways a force can be defined, a push or a pull.”

Accommodations/Differentiation:
Students with IEPs will have their aides in the classroom
The test will be read to the students
The test is given virtually so that all students can take it no matter if they are virtual or in
person.

Materials/Resources:
Webquest
Force and Motion Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUCYFof8QyA
Computers
Unit Test

Lesson 2
Common Core/PA Standard(s):

3.2.3.B1 -Explain how movement can be described in many ways.

3.2.3.B2 -Explore energy’s ability to cause motion or create change.

S4.C.3.1 - Identify and describe different types of force and motion resulting from these
forces, or the effect of the interaction between force and motion

S4.C.3.1.1 - Describe changes in motion caused by forces (e.g. pushes or pulls, gravity,
friction)
Learning Targets/Objectives:
Students will be able to sort objects and activities into either a Push or a Pull.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. Observation 1. The teacher will watch as students
participate in class and complete the
activity.

2. Activity 2. Students will complete a Google form

that has them sort objects and
activities into push or pull.

3. Formative Assessment 3. Students will answer 2 questions

about push and pull
Assessment Scale:
Activity Grade
5 points - student answered all 5 questions correctly
4 points - student answered 4 of the 5 questions correctly
3 points - student answered 3 of the 5 question correctly
2 points - student answered 2 of the 5 questions correctly
1 point - student answered 1 of the 5 questions correctly
0 points - student answered none of the questions correctly

Formative Assessment Grade

2 points - student answered both of the questions correctly
1 point - student answered 1 of the 2 questions correctly
0 points - student answered none of the questions correctly

Subject Matter/Content: Science - Force and Motion

Prerequisites: What is a Force?
Key Vocabulary:
Push - any force that moves an object away from you
Pull - any force that moves an object closer to you
Content/Facts: Push and Pull

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
“Yesterday we began our unit of Force and Motion. Today we are going to talk about
the two ways a force can be described. All forces can be broken down into one of two
types, a push or a pull. Today we will learn the difference between these two types and
learn some examples of each type”

Development/Teaching Approaches:
“A push is a force that moves an object away from you.” The teacher will ask the students
if they have any ideas of things that could be a push. Allow student responses. The teacher will
then reveal a few ideas that the students may or may not have said. “Pushing in your chair,
Pushing buttons on a remote, or pushing a door open are all examples of a push. ”

The teacher will move to the next slide. “A Push is any force that brings an object closer
to you. What ideas do you have of things that could be a pull?” Allow the students to
respond. “Pulling the curtains closed, pulling a cabinet door open, and pulling on a
pair of pants are all times where you exert a pulling force.”

The teacher will then play the song Pushes and Pulls.

The teacher will then have the students complete the activity chart. The students will go
around the room and name an action and identify if it is a push or a pull. Once the chart is
completed, the teacher will instruct the students to take the formative assessment Google Form
to Sort objects and activities into either a push or a pull.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
“Today we learned about the two ways a force can be classified. All forces in this
world are either a push or a pull. Tomorrow we will learn about two other names that
help us classify forces.”

Accommodations/Differentiation:
Students with IEPs will have their aides in the classroom with them.
Questions can be read to students who need
Materials/Resources:

Admin. (2020, September 08). What is force? - definition, types, push & pull examples.
Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://byjus.com/physics/force-push-and-pull/

Webquest

Pushes and Pulls song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94zy9gF40pE

Computer

Slides

Google Form - https://forms.gle/eWtfPYM6KDJrLShq9

Activity Example

PUSH PULL

Pushing buttons while playing video games Pulling to open the gate

Sharpening a pencil Pull the toast out of the toaster

Passing a ball to a friend Pull up the covers

Pushing open a gate Pulling laundry out of the hamper

Push down the button to make toast Prying out a nail from the wall

Playing on your phone Wrestling

Karate Closing a window

Hitting a baseball Moving a bed

Wrestling Moving your stuffed animals closer to you

Opening a window

Pushing a shopping cart

Plugging in a charger

Moving a bed
 Lesson 3
Common Core/PA Standard(s):

3.2.3.B1 -Explain how movement can be described in many ways.

3.2.3.B2 -Explore energy’s ability to cause motion or create change.

S4.C.3.1 - Identify and describe different types of force and motion resulting from these
forces, or the effect of the interaction between force and motion

S4.C.3.1.1 - Describe changes in motion caused by forces (e.g. pushes or pulls, gravity,
friction)
Learning Targets/Objectives:
Students will be able to identify if forces are balanced or unbalanced.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. Observation 1. The teacher will observe students
while they are playing their balanced
and unbalanced forces game.

2. Formative Assessment 2. Students will identify if the forces at

work are balanced or unbalanced.
Assessment Scale:
Formative Assessment Grade
5 points - student answered all 5 questions correctly
4 points - student answered 4 of the 5 questions correctly
3 points - student answered 3 of the 5 question correctly
2 points - student answered 2 of the 5 questions correctly
1 point - student answered 1 of the 5 questions correctly
0 points - student answered none of the questions correctly
Subject Matter/Content: Science - Force and Motion
Prerequisites: What is a force?, Push and Pull
Key Vocabulary:
Balanced Forces - no change is happening to an object’s movement
Unbalanced Forces - change happens to an object’s movement
Content/Facts: Balanced and Unbalanced Forces
Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
“Yesterday I told you that all forces can be defined as one of two types. What are those
two types?” Allow students to respond with push and pull. “There is another way we can
classify or describe forces. We can figure out if a force is balanced or unbalanced.
What do you think will happen if the forces are balanced?” Allow students to respond.
“What happens if forces are unbalanced?” Allow students to respond.

Development/Teaching Approaches:
The teacher will show the first slide “When the forces are balanced there is no change
happening. If the object is still, it will stay still. The push or pull of one force ends up
being canceled out by the other force because both forces are equivalent. What
examples can you think of that have balanced forces?” Allow student responses. The
teacher will then list a few examples of balanced forces like an object floating in water, a
jacket hanging on a hook, or a person sitting still. The teacher will

Then the teacher will move to the next slide, “When the forces become unbalanced, the
object will begin to move or change in speed or direction. With unbalanced forces, the
stronger force wins out over the weaker one and causes a change in motion for the
object. What ideas can you think of that would involve unbalanced forces?” Allow
student responses. The teacher will then list a few examples of unbalanced forces like, a group
winning a tug or war game, a train slowing down, and an object getting knocked over.

The teacher will then instruct students to play the balanced and unbalanced forces game and
experiment with different amounts of force applied.

After a few minutes on the game, the students will then take the formative assessment on
balanced and unbalanced forces.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
“Today we learned about two other ways we can describe a force. Every force is either
a push or a pull and every force is either balanced or unbalanced. Next time we meet,
we are going to learn about the Laws of Motion that all forces must follow.”

Accommodations/Differentiation:
This activity was made virtually due to COVID. In a regular lesson you can bring in a rope
and have the students play tug of war to see if they can create balanced and unbalanced forces.
Students with IEPs will have aids in the room with them.
Questions can be read to students with reading disabilities.
Materials/Resources:

White, M. (n.d.). Balanced and unbalanced forces in the world around you. Retrieved
February 14, 2021, from https://examples.yourdictionary.com/balanced-unbalanced-
forces-world-around-you

Google Form - https://forms.gle/uYjauWJ2jeXM97sk9

Webquest
Computers
Online game - https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/forces-and-motion-basics/latest/forces-and-
motion-basics_en.html