Unit 1: Forces and Simple Machines

Instructor: Logan Heggie

Subject: Grade 3 Science
Unit Title: Forces and Simple Machines

Overview:

In this unit students will have the opportunity to investigate and explain how forces affect
the movement of objects. Students will examine what force is, the different types of forces, the
differences between contact/non-contact and balanced/non-balanced forces, how forces are
applied, and the changes to an objects movement when a force is applied. Also, students will
discover what simple machines are and how they enhance or change the direction and strength of
a force, thus understanding how machines can make tasks more manageable. Throughout the unit
students will be provided practical hands-on experiences in designing and constructing various
simple machines and exploring their daily uses. This unit will serve as an introduction to forces
that will provide a foundation for future and more advanced exploration on forces.

Assessments:

 Formative/Summative: The formative assessments will provide input for myself and my
students to determine which areas of study need more attention to in order to master the
outcomes and prepare for the summative evaluations.
 Quizzes and Projects: Each lesson will consist of a new concept surrounding forces and
simple machines along with a small project that will be used formatively. At the end of
each week, I will be providing the students with a short quiz that will encompass what
they learned that week and be used as a summative assessment.

Student Evaluation:
The unit will be worth 25% of the total grade for the course and will be determined as follows:

Project Participation: 25%

Quizzes: 25%
Unit Exam: 50%

Concepts:
- Forces: push/pull, external, contact vs. non-contact, balanced vs. non-balanced, gravity,
magnetic, friction, muscular, spring, and force diagrams.
- Machines: roller, wheel, axle, gears, pulley, lever, incline plane, wedges, and screws.
 Unit Planning Organizer
Organizing Idea: Energy: Understandings of the physical world are deepened by
investigating matter and energy.
Guiding Question:
How can forces relate to changes in movement?

General Learning Outcome:

Students investigate and explain how forces affect the movement of objects.

Specific Learning Outcomes (KUSP’s):

Knowledge:
- A force is a push or pull on an object resulting from an interaction with another object.
- An object that is not moving will stay still until a force makes it move, and an object that is moving will
keep moving until a force stops it.
- Contact forces occur between objects that touch each other.
- Contact forces include forces that are:
o applied by a person or an object on another object (applied)
o caused by objects, surfaces, or substances sliding against each other (friction)
o applied by pulling on a string or rope connected to an object (tension)
o caused by a compressed or stretched object or spring (elastic or spring)
- Ways to apply a contact force to an object include:
o stretching
o pulling
o squeezing
o pushing
- The effort needed to move objects is reduced by simple machines, such as
o levers
o wheels
o inclined planes

Understandings:
- Forces can affect properties and movement of objects in different ways.
- Simple machines can change the strength and direction of forces.

Skills and Procedures:

- Describe where forces may exist in everyday situations.
- Describe the strength and direction of forces applied to objects.
- Compare the strength of forces applied to objects.
- Predict how an object will be affected by different strengths and directions of force.
- Conduct investigations to demonstrate the effects of forces on the movement of objects.
- Conduct investigations to demonstrate how forces can change the shape or size of objects.
- Explore how simple machines reduce the effort needed to move objects.
- Design a device that uses simple machines.
- Safely work with tools, materials, and equipment.
 Lesson Outlines
Lesson 1: What is a force?

Objectives:
 Students will understand what a force is.
 Students will recognize what forces surround them daily.
 Students will identify the differences between contact and non-contact forces.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Sit on the front desk and ask the smallest student to come and push it.
- Explain that unless the desk is moved then work has not been completed.
- Explain that while a force is being applied to the desk, the force holding the desk down
is stronger.

Interactive Lecture:
- What a force is.
- Push/Pull forces. (Tug of war in class)
- External
- Contact (Push an object)
- Non-Contact (balloon on hair)

Activity: Provide the students with the work booklets to go through the exercises.
- Pages 5-11

Closing: Exit slip question – what was the most important aspect of the lesson was you learned
today? Were their any muddy points?

Assessment: Review of the exit slips, observations during the worksheets, class participation
during lecture.
 Lesson 2: Gravity

Objectives:
 Students will recognize the force of gravity as a pulling force.
 Students will construct a device to protect an object from changing shape.
 Students will evaluate the change of an object after gravity pulls it.

Length: 40 minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Drop two different balls to the ground at the same time. Ask the students what they
observed.

Interactive Lecturing
- What is gravity?
- How does weight effect gravity?
- What type of force is gravity?

Activity: Pages 16-18.

- Egg drop activity.
- Design a device to protect the egg from smashing when it hits the ground.
- Evaluate the egg drop and determine what happened to it and what could have been
done better.
Closing:
- Review the results of their evaluation via class discussion.

Assessments:
- Observation: During the designing process.
- Review their evaluations completed after the activity.

May carry over into two lessons. Concepts and design on day one followed by experiment and
evaluation on day two.
 Lesson 3: Magnetic Forces
Objectives:
- Students will recognize magnetic force as a push or pull force.
- Students will demonstrate and evaluate how different magnets affect objects.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Bring a magnet to class and have the students start trying to stick it to different
materials around the classroom.

Interactive Lecture:
- What is magnetic force? Push or pull? Contact or non-contact?
- What are magnets used for?

Activity:
- Magnetic car experiment/evaluation

Closing:
- Have the students stand up and review the evaluations to the class.
- (If time) Complete pages 22-24 in the work booklet.

Assessments:
- Review of the worksheets and evaluations.
- Class participation.
 Lesson 4: Contact Force - Friction
Objectives:
- Students will recognize friction as a contact force and identify the different types.
- Students will compare and contrast how different types of friction affect an object.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Have the students line up, run, and then slide across the floor. Measure and see who
can slide the furthest.
- Ask them why they think some people slid further than others?

Interactive Lecture:
- What is friction?
- Explain that the materials on the bottom of their shoes determined who slid the furthest
because some materials provide more friction than others.
- Go over the three types of friction (static, sliding, and rolling).

Activity:
- Friction car ramp experiment/evaluation (different surfaces)
- Frictional Force Power (Pencil stuck in a water bottle full of rice).

Closing:
- Worksheet.
- OR have them write a short paragraph about how friction affects their daily lives, with
examples.

Assessments:

 Observe students conduct their experiments.

 Review their evaluations and worksheet completed after the activity.
 Lesson 5: Muscular Force

Objectives:
- Students will explain how muscular force is used daily.
- Students will demonstrate how muscular strength affects different sized objects.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening: Think-Pair-Share
- Individually, write down ten things a day that you do that involves muscular force.
- Get together in a group and share with your friends.
- Come together as a class and create one large list.

Interactive Lecture:
- What is muscular force?
- When throughout the day do we use muscular force?
- Eating, walking, working, literally everything.

Activity #1
- Muscular experiment:
- Have the students lift different objects that weigh different lbs.
- Ask them to explain how the heavier objects affect them? (requires more muscular
force).

Activity #2
- Muscular experiment:
- Take four different types of balls outside and a hula hoop outside. Have the students
stand in the hula hoop and throw the balls as far as they can.

Closing
- Exit slip: How does muscular force affect objects? Is there anything about muscular
force you are unclear on?

Assessment
- Observe students while participating in the activities and their designs.
- Review their exit slips.
 Lesson 6: Spring Force (Catapults)

Objectives:
- Students will discuss the different types of spring forces and provide examples.
- Students will design and create a spring device (catapult) and demonstrate how the
spring force works.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Slinky time.
- Bring a bunch of slinkies to the classroom.
- Have the students make some structures out of classroom materials in which to use the
slinkies on.

Interactive Lecture:
- What is spring force?
- Can anyone provide examples? (Trampoline, pogo stick, keyboard, mouse traps)
- Types of spring force: Compression, tension, extension, torsion.

Activity: Popsicle Stick Catapult

- Provide the students with rubber bands, popsicle sticks, pop cans, plastic spoons.
- Have them build a catapult.
- Use the catapults to shoot marshmallows.
- Have them complete the evaluation form.

Closing:
- Review: How did your catapult work? What adjustments did you make to improve it?

Assessment:
- Observe and provide input to students while they design and create their catapults.
- Observe class participation during lecture.
- Review their evaluations.
 Lesson 7: Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

Objectives:
- Students will recognize the differences between balanced and unbalanced forces.
- Students will apply their knowledge of balanced and unbalanced forces to change the
shapes of objects.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening: Human tunnel

- Have students stand across from one another and stick their arms out in front of them
with their palms facing their partner.
- Have them put their hands together and then push.
- While they push, have them take some steps back so if they stopped pushing, they
would both fall.

Interactive Lecture:
- Explain that the previous activity represented balanced and unbalanced forces.
- What is the difference between balanced and unbalanced forces?
- Balanced: Book on a table - two forces are gravity and table pushing upward on the
book.

Activity #1: Complete worksheets.

Activity #2: Jenga

Closing:

Think-Pair-Share

- Individually, write down one or two things you learned today.

- Pair up with a partner and explain to them what you learned. Then listen to your
partner. Write it all down.
- Come together as a class and explain to me what you learned.

Assessment:

- Observe and interact with students while playing Jenga.

- Review their worksheets.
- Think-pair-share activity at the end of the class.
 Lesson 8: Objects in Motion/Force Diagrams

Objectives:
- Students will identify how forces applied to objects can result in changes to their
movement, including speed, starting, stopping, and changing direction.
- Students will analyze force diagrams and apply their knowledge to identify the forces at
play and their directions.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening: Baseball
- Bring a soft kid’s bat/ball and have the kids line up and hit the ball while you pitch it to
them.

Interactive Lecture
- Use three laws of motion to explain the baseball example.
- Go through misconceptions (forces both speed up and slow down objects)
- Introduce force diagrams.

Activity:
- Worksheets

Closing: Diagrams
- On the board, provide pictures of objects in motion. Have the students come up and
take turns explaining the forces at play and drawing arrows representing the direction
of the force.

Assessment:
- Class participation.
- Observing the students as they explain the various diagrams on the board.
 Lesson 9: Machines

Objectives:
- Students will recognize the need for machines.
- Students will state the six simple machines and explain their purposes.
- Students will evaluate compound machines and describe the simple machines used
within each compound machine.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Hammer time. Have students use their hands to pound nails in a foam block and then a
wood block. Explain how we need a machine to help put the nail in the wood block.
Pull out a small hammer and then a long hammer for them to use.

Interactive Lecture/Activity:
- Introduce machine and simple machine definitions.
- Provide models of simple machines and have students identify them. Explain their
functions.

Interactive Lecture/Activity:
- Introduce compound machine definition.
- Place compound machines around the room. Have each student take turns at each
station and write down which simple machines are used and how.

Conclusion:
- Provide worksheet. Go through it as a class. Ask the questions and have them answer
them and write their answers down.

Assessments:
- Observe class participation.
- Review answers after inspecting the materials.
- Group worksheet at the end of class.
 Lesson 10: Roller, Wheels, & Axles

Objectives:
- Students will identify the differences between rollers, wheels, and axles, and their uses.
- Students will apply their knowledge by designing and constructing a device using
wheels and axles.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening: We are rolling.

- Bring water noodles or some form of roller.
- Use them to demonstrate how people would move heavy objects before the invention
of the wheel.
- Another option would be to have the students act as rollers and move another student.

Interactive Lecture:
- What is a roller? How do we use them today?
- What is a wheel? How does it work?
- What is a wheel and axle? Rotary motion and magnified force.
- Show and provide examples.

Activity:
- Design and construct a device using wheels and axles (car).

Closing:
- Evaluation and Inquiry worksheet.

Assessment: Formative
- Finished device product and worksheets.

This lesson can be split into two classes. Base knowledge on day and devices the second.
 Lesson 11: Windmill building.

Objectives:
- Students will analyze a windmill and identify the simple machines they incorporate.
- Students will recognize the forces engaged in moving a windmill.
- Students will construct a windmill and evaluate their uses.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening: Interactive Lecture

- Explain the resistance and aerodynamic forces on the paper.
- Explain that many devices we have today make use of solid materials to provide a
resistance to moving air. Provide examples.
- Drag, lift, and gravitational forces.
- Historic and modern uses.

Activity:
- Building a windmill and evaluating the power generated by it.

Closing:
- Exit slip: explain the forces required to move a windmill. What simple machines are
engaged?

Assessment:
- Exit slips.
- Windmill construction.
 Lesson 12: Gears – May be a two-day lesson.

Objectives:

- Students will recognize and describe the concepts of gears and their basic function.
- Students will evaluate multiple gear systems and then design their own.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Creating a gear system out of Lego.

Interactive Lecture:
- What are gears? Idle gears, spur gears, bevel gears, worm gears, rotary and linear
motion, gears in everyday life.

Activity:
- Bring a bike and examine the different gear designs.
- Bring in tools and clocks and examine how their gear systems work.

Activity #2
- Create a gear design.

Closing:
- Class Q & A period.

Assessment:
- Review gear designs and observe the class discussion at the end of class.
 Lesson 13: Pulleys

Objectives:
- Students will identify the different types of pulley systems.
- Students will illustrate their knowledge by constructing a pulley system.
- Students will describe the basic pulley concepts while they demonstrate their pulley
system.

Lesson Length: 40 minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Provide a Lego build of a pulley system. Demonstrate how it works.

Interactive Lecture:
- Types of pulleys: fixed, movable, compound.
- Mechanical advantage.
- Pulleys in everyday life.

Activity:
- Building a pulley system.

Closing:
- Provide a verbal description of their design and how it works.

Assessment:
- Pulley designs and descriptions.
 Lesson 14: Levers

Objectives:
- Students will identify the different parts and classes of levers.
- Students will calculate the mechanical advantage and output forces of a lever.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Go outside and play on the see-saw.

Interactive Lecture:
- What is a lever? Types of levers? Parts of a lever?
- Go outside to the seesaw and use it as an example.

Activity:
- Worksheets on mechanical force, input, and output forces.

Closing:
- Review of the worksheets as a class.
- Thumbs up and thumbs down to gauge understandings.

Assessment:
- Worksheets and class participation.
 Lesson 15: Incline Plane

Objectives:
- Students will identify the advantages and how they reduce the effort required to move
objects.
- Students will explain and calculate the mechanical advantages of different incline
planes.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:
- Go outside to the slide and ask them how they can get to the top. Explain the stairs and
slide are both examples of incline planes to make job easier and the height and length
of the slide determine the mechanical advantage.

Interactive Lecture:
- What is an inclined plane? Advantages? Trade offs? Daily examples.

Activity:
- Race cars down different lengths/heights of incline planes and measure the distances
they travel. Calculate the mechanical advantage of each ramp.

Closing:
- Worksheets

Assessment:
- Worksheets and observation of their calculations during the activity.
 Lesson 16: Wedges and Screws

Objectives:
- Students will recognize and explain how wedges assist in the effort to move objects.
- Students will dramatize how wedges and screws can be used through creative writing.

Length: 40 Minutes

Lesson Procedure:

Opening:

Interactive Lecture:
- What is a wedge? How does it work? What is the input and output forces?
- What is a screw and the different parts of it?
- Advantages and everyday uses of wedges and screws.

Activity
- Pass around different types of wedges and have the students explain their uses (axe,
knife, door stopper, etc.).
- Create a creative story illustrating the uses of wedges and screws. They can draw or
write their stories.

Closing:
- Present their stories.

Assessment:
- Class participation during discussion and

Lesson 17: Review

Lesson 18: Summative Exam