Motion and force are observable every day, but students may not be aware of different types of motion and the forces that cause them. In Push, Pull, Go students explore this important relationship through inquiry, discussion, engineering, and problem-solving. Students also practice using descriptive words, building structures, measuring distance, making predictions, and identifying systems. Throughout a series of five lessons, students manipulate models to learn about motion and draw conclusions about force, energy, gravity, and friction.
Students begin by drawing upon previous knowledge to create definitions for “motion” and “force.” They first explore motion and force by rolling a ball and making observations. To further enforce the unit concepts, students begin working with K’NEX® pieces to build a ramp and roll a ball down it. Students practice measuring distance and relate the amount of force to the distance the ball rolls. Swinging motion is introduced as students build a toy swing set and explain the patterns of movement it produces. Dominoes are used to explore systems and the concept that force can be transferred between objects. Students discuss the motion of spinning and construct tops. Observing a top’s motion allows students to draw conclusions about the forces needed to make something spin, including gravity. In the final lesson, students design and build an invention that combines different motions to create a single system. After testing their inventions, teams define problems and share ideas about how they can be fixed. As a culmination, students revisit the class chart from Lesson 1 and evaluate what they have learned throughout the unit.
Movement is important as students learn about the world around them. Playgrounds provide abundant opportunities for students to manipulate, observe, and interact with objects and systems. In time, students may begin to notice patterns in movement. The anchoring phenomenon for Push, Pull, Go is recognizing forces and their resulting motions on the playground. There is a short video (1 minute 34 seconds) that can be used to introduce the phenomenon at the beginning of the unit as well as the beginning of each Investigation/Lesson. You can get to the video two ways:
1. Via the Push, Pull, Go support area on https://carolinascienceonline.com , or
2. In the "Phenomenon Videos" folder below.
There is an investigative phenomenon for each lesson that draws from this video. For each lesson, read the investigative phenomenon aloud to the class. Encourage students to generate questions about what they hear. Keep track of students’ questions on a class chart, or have students record the questions in their science notebooks. Refer to these questions at the end of the lesson and throughout the unit to support the unit’s anchoring phenomenon.
The documents below have been created to help consider the FOSS materials in the context of the Next Generation Science Standards. We recommend you review, at the very least, the following documents:
Unit Guide - A summary of materials, sequencing and content for the module.
Storyline - An overview of the sequencing and reasons for the various activities
Assessment - A collection of assessment tools including what to look for as students work on the activities.