Make it a STEAM project by adding marble art.
The link, Balancing Robot, above has a printout you can download and do with your students tomorrow! This is an easy experiment using just paper. Here are a few photos from Instagram demonstrating how it works:Ī post shared by Kristin P Y on at 3:18pm PDT This is a great experiment using everyday objects to construct a car. This experiment can also make a great engineering challenge.įor making a mousetrap car, you’ll want to help students with the mousetrap. This is a great demonstration for balanced and unbalanced forces and a way to work in some high-level science vocabulary.Ĭhange variables such as using a different texture on wheels or on the ramp. Some of the below ideas could also become engineering challenges for students if you present them with open-ended questions, materials and allow time to explore and create. These can be adapted for different grade levels, but focus on middle elementary grade students.
Demonstrations and Experiments for Learning About Force and Motionīelow is a list of a variety of FREE experiments, activities, and ideas to teach students about force and motion and patterns in motion. Below are ideas for demonstrations and experiments, books, and videos to enhance your science lessons. While we have written resources for teaching Force and Motion and Patterns in Motion, there are many more ideas that you can use in your classroom without purchasing our units and science stations. Additional Lesson Ideas for Teaching Forces and Motion and Patterns in Motion Students race to see which balloon finishes first. Balloons are attached to each, blown up and then let go. In this Investigate station, the teacher sets up a string between two sets of chairs with a straw attached to it. Play one of two video games (see below).
we can focus on the how to teach force and motion and how to teach patterns in motion.ĭuring the Force and Motion Science Stations students engage in the following activities: PS2A: Forces and Motion The patterns of an object’s motion in various situations can be observed and measured when that past motion exhibits a regular pattern, future motion can be predicted from it.It aligns with the second part of the first DCI: PS2.B: Types of Interactions Objects in contact exert forces on each other.ģ-PS2-2 Patterns in Motion:Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.Forces that do not sum to zero can cause changes in the object’s speed or direction of motion. An object at rest typically has multiple forces acting on it, but they add to give zero net force on the object. PS2.A: Forces and Motion Each force acts on one particular object and has both strength and a direction.It aligns with the first part of each DCI: The ideas and resources in this blog post align with the Next Generation Science Standards for Third Grade 3-PS2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions. For this blog post, ideas and activities for 3-PS2-1 (balanced and unbalanced forces) and 3-PS2-2 (patterns in motion) are combined.īelow is a description of how each individual Performance Expectation (PE) and Disciplinary Core Idea (DCI) align and relate to each other.ģ-PS2-1 Force and Motion:Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object. It is a great place to start if teaching with the NGSS is new for you. We wrote a blog post on How to Read the Next Generation Science Standards that outlines where to start when reading, interpreting, and teaching the NGSS. NGSS Third Grade Forces and Interactions Science Standards Here is an explanation of how we have used the NGSS to plan for our Force and Motion and Patterns in Motion Science Resources. The NGSS also give us a solid foundation on which to build our grade level lessons that will meet the needs of most teachers across the US. They are the national standards for science and many states have adopted them as their state standards. For all of our science resources, we follow the Next Generation Science Standards.