Force and Motion Unit Overview

Location and Perspective

The Location and Perspective module helps students explore spatial relationships and then develop the vocabulary to describe these relationships from multiple locations. Interactive games help students to see everyday objects from different perspectives.

Motion

Sometimes it feels as if our young students are in constant motion, and motion certainly fascinates children. The Motion module allows students to study, describe, and learn to measure motion. Students learn that motion can be measured in terms of distance and in terms of time. Interactive activities and games allow students to compare and make these measurements of motion. At the end of the module, the Take a Note activity allows students to connect to mathematics content as they compare and order several measurements of distance.

Force

When K-2 students study Force with Science4Us, they begin to think of force as a push or a pull. Students see examples of force on a playground through live videos and experiment with force through hands-on lessons at school. An interactive mini-golf game allows students to experiment with the effects of force as they decide how much force to use in hitting the ball. Finally, students explore factors and variables as they add what they’ve learned to their digital notebook. A special lesson on factors is included to help make teaching factors, controls, and variables easy.

Magnets

Though every kindergarten student may know that magnets can be used to hold school artwork on the fridge, they may not know the many other uses for magnets there are. In the Magnets module students will learn about tiny and huge magnets that are used every day. Students will also learn to predict which objects a magnet will attract and test those predictions through interactive activities. The Silly Bulls game allows students to practice with the vocabulary they are learning so that they can use scientific terms to describe their explorations with magnets.

Simple Machines

Students are fascinated with tools and machines. In the Simple Machines module, students see examples of how simple machines can make work easier by reducing the force needed to move an object over a distance. Then, students use interactive activities to experiment with these simple machines: lever, pulley, wheel and axle, wedge, screw, and inclined plane. Hands-on activities are also available to give students actual experience with simple machines. By the end of this module, students will know just how to decrease the amount of force needed to move an object!