Forces Make Things Move

Overview

Students investigate how pushes and pulls affect the movement of objects. Through demonstrations and a small-group investigation, they identify contact and non-contact forces and describe how force can start, stop, speed up, slow down, or change the direction of motion.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• Identify a force as a push or a pull.
• Describe how forces affect the movement of objects.
• Recognize examples of contact and non-contact forces.
• Investigate how changing a push or pull changes movement.

Success criteria

• I can describe a force as a push or a pull.
• I can explain how a force changes an object’s movement.
• I can identify whether a force involves contact.
• I can record observations and use evidence to explain what happened.

Curriculum links

• Understanding structures and mechanisms: forces causing movement.
• Identifying pushes, pulls, gravity, friction, and magnetic force in everyday situations.
• Investigating and describing how forces affect the movement of objects.
• Applying the stages of the scientific inquiry process: asking questions, predicting, observing, recording, and communicating.

Lesson structure (40 minutes)

1. 0–5 minutes – Engage: What caused it to move? Open with the opening mystery image and question. Show a ball rolling, a door opening, and a magnet attracting a paper clip. Ask: “What made each object move?” Collect students’ ideas without correcting them immediately. Introduce the word force as a push or pull.

2. 5–12 minutes – Build understanding Use the force examples and movement diagrams to teach that forces can make objects start moving, stop, speed up, slow down, or change direction. Demonstrate pushing a book, pulling a chair, stopping a rolling ball with a hand, and changing a toy car’s direction. Explain that a contact force involves touching, while gravity and magnetism can act without direct contact.

3. 12–15 minutes – Predict and organize groups Display the investigation instructions. Place students in five groups of four and provide each group with a tray of investigation materials. Ask groups to predict which actions will make a toy car move farther, stop sooner, or change direction. Clarify safe handling and assign roles: materials manager, tester, observer, and recorder.

4. 15–27 minutes – Investigate pushes, pulls, and friction Groups complete the investigation using a toy car, a ramp or book, and different surfaces such as smooth paper, carpet, and cardboard. Students test a gentle and stronger push, then compare how far the car travels on each surface. They may also use a ruler or their hands to stop or redirect the car. Students record the action, force used, movement observed, and evidence in the force investigation recording sheet. Circulate and ask: “What force acted on the car?” and “What changed when the surface changed?”

5. 27–33 minutes – Share evidence Return to the investigation discussion prompts. Each group shares one observation and one conclusion. Guide students to identify the push as the force that started the car moving and friction as a force that slowed it down or stopped it. Reinforce that a stronger push does not always mean “better”; it changes the distance or speed of movement.

6. 33–38 minutes – Apply learning Students complete the independent questions on the force investigation recording sheet. Questions ask them to identify pushes and pulls, classify examples as contact or non-contact, and explain how friction affected the car. Support students by revisiting the diagrams on the force vocabulary and everyday examples.

7. 38–40 minutes – Plenary and assessment Show the final challenge question: “Why is it easier to slide a book across a smooth desk than across carpet?” Students give a partner explanation using the words force, friction, push, or pull. Invite two students to share before collecting the worksheets.

Resources

• One slide deck: the force investigation slide deck
• One worksheet per student or pair: the force investigation recording sheet
• Five toy cars or similar rolling objects
• Books or small ramps
• Smooth paper, cardboard, and carpet or fabric
• Rulers or metre sticks
• Magnets and paper clips
• Masking tape
• Pencils and a board for recording class ideas

Assessment

• Observe group investigations: Can students identify the push, pull, and resulting movement?
• Check worksheet observations and explanations for accurate use of force and friction.
• Listen to the final partner explanation for evidence that students understand how a force changes movement.

Differentiation

• Support: Model each investigation step before groups begin. Provide a word bank with force, push, pull, contact, gravity, and friction, plus sentence frames such as “The car moved farther when…” and “The force that slowed it was…”
• EAL learners: Use gestures and real objects to demonstrate each word. Pair students with supportive peers and allow labelled drawings before written explanations.
• SEN: Provide a simplified recording table with picture prompts, allow oral responses, and assign a predictable group role. Reduce the number of trials while maintaining the comparison.
• Extension: Ask students to design a fair test to investigate one variable, such as push strength or surface type, and explain why other conditions must remain the same.