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Forces and Motion

Forces and Motion: Inquiry-Based Science Activities

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Active participation has long been held as one of the greatest teaching strategies to engage students and have them retain their understanding of concepts learned. Grounded in active learning, the 5E model of learning science is built around student-led inquiry and encourages students to ask questions, test theories, and develop new ideas of their own. This constructivist learning model was developed in 1987 by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study and promotes collaborative and active learning. The 5E model places inquiry-based learning on the forefront, allowing students to gain a deeper understanding of the material by asking questions that interest them.

The 5 Es are:

Engage
Explore
Explain
Evaluate
Extend

Learn more about the 5E science learning model from Evan-Moor’s Science Lessons and Investigations for grades 1–6. This learning model will have students work together to study science concepts by asking questions, observing ideas in action, analyzing data, and developing conclusions.

Science Lessons and Investigations Grade 3 Forces and Motion

One of the concepts that this model tackles in Science Lessons and Investigations is Forces and Motion, which involves changes in movement. The lesson involves three main characteristics of the concept:

  • Each force acts on one particular object and has both strength and a direction.
  • Forces can cause changes in the object’s speed or direction of motion.
  • Objects at rest have multiple forces acting on them that cancel each other out.

Engage

Engage is the first of the five Es, and engages students in the concept (Forces and Motion) by relating it to past lessons and experiences. In this phase of learning, students will discuss and ask questions to spark interest. This lesson discusses spinning tops as a change in movement and forces, including questions that further inquiry of the concept.

  • Can a top stand up on its own?
  • What other items spin?

This part of the lesson will engage students in asking question about forces and motion and spark their interest before they begin to study the science theory.

Explore

The second E is Explore, where students take the concepts they discussed during engagement and put it into practice with a hands-on activity. To explore forces and motion, students will conduct an experiment using a spinning top. Students will collect data about how long the top can spin, make observations about the top before, during, and after spinning, and record their findings.

The Explore section of this lesson comes with a second activity, where students will design a maze on construction paper and then guide a marble through the maze without touching it! They will have to do so using straws and/or by gently lifting the edges of the paper. Students will answer questions, make observations, and record findings. This activity allows students to formulate questions as they actively participate in exploring it.

Explain

After successfully completing the explore portion, students move onto the Explainphase, the third E. Students will gain a deeper understanding of what they just learned by reading selections, seeing real-life visuals, and learning vocabulary (words like gravity, friction, and balanced forces). Here, students will read a short excerpt about how forces act in the world and use their new vocabulary to gain context of the spinning top and marble experiment concepts.

Evaluate

The fourth E is Evaluate. In this stage, students will complete comprehension activities to show what they have learned and apply it to other situations. In the forces and motion activity, students fill in the blanks using vocabulary, answer whether a picture is showing “pulling” or “pushing” forces, and identify balanced forces on a playground. This part of the teaching model is where students will start identifying the concepts they’ve learned outside of the classroom and apply them to real-life scenarios.

Extend

The fifth and final E is Extend. Students respond to writing prompts and complete hands-on activities. These activities extend students’ learning from classroom experiences into the real world by applying concepts and vocabulary to their everyday lives. These lessons ask students to reflect on their experience by:

  • Drawing a spinning top.
  • Writing a paragraph imagining they were a skydiver being affected by forces.
  • Creating a project.

The lesson supplies two project possibilities:

  • Create your own spinning top from household items.
  • Create a video dictionary by taking photos or videos of forces being used on the playground or at home. This project will extend the concepts into application.

The 5E teaching model is outlined clearly in Evan-Moor’s Science Lessons and Investigations activity book, available for grades 1–6.

Other unit topics in grade three include lessons from life, earth, and physical sciences, some of which include:

  • Plant and Animal Life Cycles
  • Nature and Nurture: Inheritance of Traits
  • Group Social Behavior
  • Fossils of Ancestors
  • Weather, Climate, and Natural Hazards
  • Magnetic Forces

For more forces and motion experiments, try this STEM Challenge: Egg Carrier (Physical Science) for grade 3!

Discover more hands-on, investigative science lessons from Evan-Moor’s Science Lessons and Investigations series (grades 1–6).


Christine Wooler has experience working with children as a youth soccer coach and summer camp counselor. She is currently studying English Literature and journalism in college. She enjoys exploring educational topics that help students have fun while learning.

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