Forces & Interactions
Suggested timeframe: Winter (Jan-March)
Unit description: Students explore the relationship between force and motion by observing patterns, cause and effect. Students study the relationship between objects and electric and magnetic forces.
Essential Questions and Big Ideas
What causes things to move?
-
- Objects in contact exert forces on each other. (3-PS2-1)
- Each force acts on one particular object and has both strength and a direction. An object at rest typically has multiple forces acting on it, but they add to give zero net force on the object. Forces that do not sum to zero can cause changes in the object’s speed or direction of motion. (3-PS2-1)
How can we use observations to predict motion and design solutions to engineering problems?
-
- The patterns of an object’s motion in various situations can be observed and measured; when that past motion exhibits a regular pattern, future motion can be predicted from it. (3-PS2-2)
How do we use electric and magnetic forces in everyday life?
-
- Electric and magnetic forces between a pair of objects do not require that the objects be in contact. The sizes of the forces in each situation depend on the properties of the objects and their distances apart and, for forces between two magnets, on their orientation relative to each other. (3-PS2-3),(3-PS2-4)
Prerequisite Skills/Science & Engineering Practices
Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence, make observations/measurements to provide evidence, ask questions to determine cause and effect, define a simple design problem
Download the complete Grade 3 Science Unit 2 framework to customize for your own planning.