Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

Unit Overview and Rationale

This unit of work focuses on how forces are utilised in everyday life. Students will be requires
to understand how we define force as a physical action. They will be required to investigate
the various ways that we identify force and how we categorise these into different types of
forces. Students will be practically analysing how we are able to measure forces in various
instances while also looking at the effect of friction against forces. Students will furthermore
be studying simple machines that require the basic fundamentals of force.
Unit of Study Learning Objectives:
Students will develop skills in a number of different ways. From the content they are displayed
and from the various activities they will be required to complete, they will successfully demonstrate the following learning objectives:
Content Knowledge

To understand when forces are used in everyday life

To understand the 6 ways in which we identify force

To identify the forces that are being measured on a spring balance

and how these can be calculated
To identify and understand different types of force
To developing an understanding of what friction is and how it affects
force
To demonstrate comprehension of the content of force during a topic
test
To understand how simple machines utilise forces

Practical Application

To independently develop examples that demonstrate the 6 ways we

identify force

To safely use a spring balance to measure force

To independently develop examples that demonstrate the different types of

force

To make predictions and explanations of how friction is affecting force

during a practical activity

To use examples and evidence to support answers in the topic test

To develop an ICT presentation in small groups explaining a specific simple

machine

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

Unit of Study Assessment:

Students will be required to complete a number of formative and summative assessment tasks throughout the unit which are linked to various AusVELS
science inquiry priorities. These assessment tasks are linked with the learning objectives listed above. The assessments will be completed both individually
and in groups. The assessment requirements are as follows:
Formative Assessment
Class Participation and Discussion
Students will be assessed on their ability to participate during class discussion and
activity, this will link strongly to how they are able to explain and comprehend the
content
AusVELS Connection:
(ACSIS133)
(ACSSU117)
(ASCCS118)
Practical Activity Involvement
Students will be assessed on their ability to practically involve themselves within set
activities, this will link strongly to how they are able to understand the relevance of
the content to their set tasks
AusVELS Connection:
(ACSUS124)
(ACSIS125)
(ACSIS126)
Glossary Completion
Students will be assessed on their ability to select content they understand as key
concepts, this will strongly link to their knowledge of content and drawing on
various examples
AusVELS Connection:
(ACSIS133)
(ACSSU117)
(ASCCS118)

Summative Assessment
Written Lab Reports
Students will be assessed on their ability to scientifically annotate their practical
activities, this will strongly link to how they make sense of the content and develop
cross curricular priorities with their literacy skills
AusVELS Connection:
(ACSUS124)
(ACSIS125)
(ACSIS126)
Written Test
Students will be assessed on their ability to show comprehension to the set content,
this will strongly link to how they are able to understand and explain the content
AusVELS Connection:
(ACSSU117)
(ASCCS118)
Group Presentations
Students will be assessed on their ability to work as a team and develop
communicative skills, this will strongly link to their knowledge of the content and
how to present this
AusVELS Connection:
(ACSIS125)
(ACSIS133)

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

By the completion of this unit students will have a well-rounded comprehension on the topic knowledge as well as in skills such as expressing these in
written and verbal context. They will learn alternate skills such as:

Working in a team environment on a group project

Developing questions and predictions during practical activities
Creating study notes and glossaries to assist with retention of information for summative tests
Communicating their ideas and understandings through ICT application assessment tasks

How this unit outline was influenced by work at VSSEC

During this semester, I attended a professional development day and a year 9 science excursion with my placement school at VSSEC. This allowed me the
opportunity to look at this extraordinary resource facility behind the scenes and in action. During the professional development day we were able to engage
with the learning styles of the staff members who ran the Mission to Mars program. We were also lucky enough to look at various practical activities they
complete with students from various schools and a range of different year levels. These activities were based around kinaesthetic learning and also ICT
application.
Within my unit, I have engaged with various activities in which we experienced at VSSEC such as:

Hands on practical activities which have an inquiry based approach to understanding concepts
ICT quizzes to formatively assess student understanding on learnt concepts
Students driven learning activities that allow their ability to question and hypothesise concepts develop

Standard 6.2:

Standard 6.4:

Engage in professional
learning and improve practice

Apply professional learning and

improve student learning

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

Student Activities and Unit Outline

The following descriptions are details of the various activities that are involved within this unit on forces. The unit outline follows this table which has the
breakdown of each classs duration topic, objectives, activities and unit resources.
Class Activities
Brainstorming Activity
This unit on forces will begin with a brainstorming activity on the students pre-existing ideas on the topic. This will allow to the class to work off each
others knowledge to form ideas on what everyday aspects are related to force. During this initial brainstorm activity, we will begin to look at common
misconceptions of forces such as:
If an object is stationary there are no forces acting on it
If a force acts on an object it must move
The weight of an object is equal to the mass of an object
Heavy objects fall faster than light objects
Class Discussion
Each lesson within this unit will utilise class discussion as a class activity. This allows students the opportunity to express their questions and
understandings of the topic at hand, as well as continue to engage in their communicative skills within the classroom environment. Students are
encouraged to communicate their ideas within the classroom and not be worried about embarrassment when perceiving a concept incorrectly.
Forces Glossary
Students will be completing a glossary of terms for the topic of forces. During the conclusion of each class, students will pick out a number of
definitions which they found to be the key concepts for the day. This is a formative piece of assessment to engage in practice of writing study notes, as
well as identifying which parts of the class were the learning objectives for the class. This will assist the students with their preparation for the topic
test.
Individual Inquiry
During students discussion in the class, students will be required to annotate various notes within their workbooks. When discussing various key
concepts for the day, students will be prompted to note down a few examples in which they feel best explain this concept. This will give them the
opportunity to understand this concept using high-order thinking by linking them with pre-existing ideas and knowledge.

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

Spring Balance Practical Activity

This practical activity investigates how we can measure and calculate forces using a spring balance. This will give the students a number of actions to
measure force and then continue their investigation by conducting their own measurements of various actions that can be recorded. As this task
measures pulling forces, students will look at how gravity creates a pull towards the centre of the earth as a concept. Students are encouraged to
hypothesise how much force is utilised during various actions.

Shark Attack Group Activity

Students will be expressed with a problem at the commencement of their class: A shark bites down onto its prey with the force of 9,300N at its front
teeth, and 18,200N at its back teeth! Can our net force as a class hold open the jaws of a great white shark? Students will be required to push against
a set of bathroom scales on their wall to calculate their pushing force. This number is then converted into Newtons by using the formula 100g = 1N.
Students will write down the force produced by each student, add them all together and then compare it to the force created by the shark. This will
then allow for inquiry for a number of questions such as:
How many people are needed to beat the shark?
How many adults would it take to beat the shark?
Why do sharks have great force on their back teeth?
Would the forces be the same underwater?
Hot Wheels Practical Activity
This practical activity tests friction using a variety of different surfaces against hot wheels cars. Students will be required to measure the distance of a
car travelling along a surface until it comes to a complete stop. This will be in a controlled practical activity with having behaviouristic rules
implemented to minimise risk of any extraneous variables such as:
Using the same car on each surface
Releasing the cars from the same location of the ramp on each surface
Ensuring all ramps are on the same incline rate
Doing 3 tests on each surface and averaging the results
Written Laboratory Report
For both practical activities, students will be required to complete a laboratory report to show their understanding of the links between the activity
and the content. Students will need to fill out their results table and answer a variety of different questions which show their comprehension of these
concepts. See attached appendix 1 for an example laboratory report.

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

Ka-hoot Online Quiz

Students will be required to complete an online interactive test based on the main concepts they have learnt within this unit. This can be done before
the topic test as a revision activity. Ka-hoot is a website which allows teachers to create their own multiple choice tests which are aligned with AusVELS
standards and at the completion of the test, teachers are able to download the results of the test in an Excel Spreadsheet allowing teachers to find
common trends within student understanding. See attached appendix 2 for Ka-hoot information.
Written Test
Students will complete a topic test at the conclusion of this topic to demonstrate their understanding of the key concepts. This test will involve both
short answer and long answer questions for students to explain their understanding. This piece of work will be summative assessment and will be
beneficial for students to practice independent explanation of topics without prompt from fellow peers or teachers. See attached appendix 3 for topic
test.
Simple Machines Research Task and Presentation
Students will be required to complete a group research task on a simple machine. These groups will be pre-determined by the teacher to allow for a
healthy mix of student ability within each group. Students will research these simple machines using their textbooks as well as online resources as
means of content. The priority within this activity is for students to practice working in teams. They will learn the importance of communication,
delegation and teamwork within this task. This activity is presented in detail within the summative assessment aspect of this document.

Standard 1.1:
Physical, social and intellectual development
and characteristics of students

Week

Duration

Teaching Science
1
100 Minutes

50 Minutes

Topic
Introduction to
Forces

Identifying Forces

Learning Objectives
Year Seven Unit: Forces
To understand where forces are used
in everyday life and the importance of
them
To begin to develop a definition
glossary on Forces terminology
To understand the 6 ways that we can
identify force

Activities

Resources
and
AusVELS
Jaclyn Munro: 3886899
Brainstorming Activities
Textbook:
Oxford Big Ideas 7: Science
Class discussion
Begin writing our Forces
glossary
Class Discussion
Individual Inquiry

To independently develop examples

that demonstrate each one

100 Minutes

Measuring Forces

Continue glossary

To safely use a spring balance to

measure forces

Spring Balance Practical

Activity

To identify the forces that are being

measured and how reliable they are

Class Discussion
Written Lab Report
Continue glossary

50 Minutes

Types of Forces

To understand and identify different

types of forces
To independently develop examples
that demonstrate each one

Class Discussion
Shark Attack Group
Activity
Continue glossary

AusVELS Content
Understanding:
Changes to an objects
motion is caused by
unbalanced forces acting on
the object (ACSSU117)
Earths gravity pulls objects
down towards the centre of
the Earth (ASCCS118)

AusVELS Questioning and

Predicting:
Identify questions and
problems that can be
investigated scientifically and
make predictions based on
scientific knowledge
(ACSUS124)

Teaching Science
3

100 Minutes

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Friction

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

To develop an understanding of how

friction can effect force

Hot Wheels Practical

Activity

To make predictions and explanations

of how the friction surface will effect
force in the practical activity

Class Discussion
Written Lab Report
Finalise glossary

50 Minutes

Test on Forces

To complete a test involving short

answer and extended response
questions on Forces

Written Test

100 Minutes

Simple Machines
Research

To complete a research task in small

groups

Simple Machines
Research Task

50 Minutes

Simple Machines
Presentation

To put delegate and put together

information on your research

Class Discussion

To deliver information to the class as a

group in the form of a presentation
with use of ICT.

Class Presentations

AusVELS Planning and

Conducting:
Collaboratively and
individually plan and conduct
a range of investigation types
including fieldwork and
experiments, ensuring safety
and ethical guidelines are
followed. (ACSIS125)
Measure and control
variables, select equipment
to collect data with accuracy
appropriate to the task.
(ACSIS126)

AusVELS Communicating:
Communicate ideas, findings
and solutions to problems
using scientific language and
representations using digital
technologies where
appropriate(ACSIS133)

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

Appendix 1: Measuring Forces Laboratory Report

Measuring Forces
Aim
To investigate how we measure forces using a spring balance
Materials
Spring Balance, Weights, Rubber Bands, Text books and other various
masses we can use to measure force

TASK
To lift 500g off the
bench
To pull 500g along
the bench
To double the length
of a rubber band
To lift a book off the
bench

Test 1

Test 2

Test 3

Method
1. Collect all equipment for the experiment and take it to your work
station
2. Ensure the spring balances are all configured
3. Use the table within the results column to do various tasks while
measuring force
4. Each test needs to be completed 3 times and recorded in each
column
5. Conduct 3 more experiments of your choice and write the results
within the table
6. Pack away all equipment leaving no mess on the work stations
7. Complete the results table and the discussion questions
Results
Fill out the results table below. Each test should be repeated three times
in case there are any errors during our experiment. In the three blank
rows at the bottom, write down your own conducted experiments and
record your results.

Questions
Compare the results of lifting a 500g mass off the bench to pulling a 500g
mass along the bench. Why are these results not the same?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Compare the results of lifting a 500g mass off the bench to lifting a book
off the bench. Are these results the same? Why do you think they are this
way?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

How do we measure force?

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
What kinds of forces were we measuring today?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Draw a diagram of one of the experiments you did. Make sure you include
the direction of the forces as well as labelling all of the different elements
to your diagram.

Conclusion
What did we learn from todays experiment?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

Appendix 3: Ka-hoot information

Ka-hoot test questions:

Ka-hoot results spreadsheet:

Standard 2.6:

Standard 4.5:

Information and Communication

Technology (ICT)

Use ICT safely, responsibly and

ethically

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

Appendix 4: Forces Test

What unit of measurement do we use to measure force? How do we

transfer this measurement of force into grams?

FORCE TEST

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Please attempt all questions provided

Define Force and name the 3 actions that best describe force:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
/4 Marks
What are 6 ways that we can experience force?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899

______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________
______________________________

/2 Marks
Define and give an example of a contact force and a non-contact force:
CONTACT:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
/2 Marks
NON-CONTACT:

/6 Marks

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
/2 Marks

Force involves an _________________ and a ___________________.

The __________________ transfers its force onto the ________________
causing forces to occur.
/3 Marks

A weight lifter holding the weights still above their head is considered to
be a balanced force. Explain other examples that show a balanced force.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
/2 Marks

Teaching Science

Year Seven Unit: Forces

A group of cheerleaders lifting one of their group members is an example

of Net force. Explain how this can be useful in other scenarios.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
/2 Marks
Friction can be seen in lots of different ways. Fill out the following table
which compares minimal friction and maximal friction.
Surface
Types

Speed of
Object

Advantages

Disadvantages

Minimal
Friction
Maximal
Friction

/4 Marks
Using the table above, I want you to think about how you could use
friction to design a hot wheels track.
What is ideal for our hot wheels track? And why?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
/3 Marks

Jaclyn Munro: 3886899