Overviews

__**Kindergarten**__
This five day unit is designed to introduce kindergarten students to the concept of forces through the consideration of the different ways that things move as well as the push and pull forces that create movement. The focus for the inquiry is kindergarten science standard K.3.2- //Investigate that things move in different ways, such as fast, slow, etc//. Students will use the inquiry skills of assimilation and inference as they predict how various push and pull actions will affect the movement of objects. As they make inferences and try different movements with physical objects and computerized simulations, students will assimilate new information into their existing understanding of the ways forces work on objects. The unit will culminate in a writing/illustrating activity where students will draw pictures of ways that they move objects with pushes and pulls. The students will then write captions for their pictures. Their work will be graded with a rubric.

**__Fifth Grade__**
This ten day unit will involve students in inquiry as they seek information about different types of natural forces and build models to demonstrate the forces. The unit is primarily designed to meet fifth grade science standard 5.3.11- //Investigate and describe that changes in speed or direction of motion of an object are caused by forces. Understand that the greater the force, the greater the change in motion and the more massive an object, the less effect a given force will have.// The unit begins with two days of building background knowledge about forces. The classroom teacher will ensure that students understand that a force is a push or a pull and that forces sometimes work at a distance. After this introduction, the students will work in pairs to investigate one type of force. They will visit the media center several times to locate information. The classroom teacher and library media specialist will remind students of the importance of citing sources and using information without plagiarizing. They will also hold brief conferences with students as they conclude the information-gathering stage and begin to apply the new information to products that they can use to share their learning. The students will use //Comic Life// to create a comic that communicates their new knowledge of one type of force. They will also create a physical model that demonstrates the force in action. The inquiry focus of this unit is the assimilation stage. This unit contains little focus on the questioning stage of inquiry, as the teacher provides the questions that all students will work to answer. The students are more engaged in the exploration stage, as they locate resources to answer the questions. The bulk of the time, though, is spent on assimilating the new information into a meaningful product and making inferences about ways to apply the knowledge and create a model. Both the comic and physical model will be evaluated with a grading checklist. The unit concludes with an evening "Forces Fair" for students to demonstrate and explain to their parents the forces that they studied.