BBC’s Terrific Scientific: Resources on Forces

If you’ve not heard of them yet, they’re a series of investigations that schools are invited to take part in and enter their results. Each of the investigations have been all to do with making learning scientific concepts fun and supporting students in getting more involved with science.

There have already been four investigations which have explored the areas of taste, water, time and trees, and the fifth started on 30^th May and is all about forces. This investigation ends on 21^st July so it’s not too late to take part! Just visit the Terrific Scientific website to find out more. Alongside this investigation, we’ve been searching about for some activities for Key Stage 1 and 2 students on EducationCity, which explore this subject area and can be used together with the BBC’s lesson resources too.

All of the activities are simple to find – just use Search on EducationCity, type their titles below into the search box and voilà! So are you ready? Let’s take a look at our recommendations.

Key Stage 1

Learn Screens
Animal Trainer – Understanding pushing and pulling as forces that move things.

England: F2
Scotland: Early ***
Wales: Year 1
N. Ireland: P2

Activities
Animal Trainer – Decide whether an object is being pushed or pulled.

England: F2
Scotland: Early ***
Wales: Year 1
N. Ireland: P2

Will It Bend? – Decide whether an object have been squashed, bent, twisted or stretched, and then which object it is easier to do these actions to.

England: Year 2
Scotland: First *
Wales: Year 2
N. Ireland: P3

ThinkIts
Forces that can change things – What are the following examples of? Bending, stretching, twisting, squashing and pushing.

England: Year 2
Scotland: First *
Wales: Year 2
N. Ireland: P3

Key Stage 2

Learn Screens
Speed Bumps Game – Understand that different surfaces have different friction in the context of a toy car going up and down hills.

England: Year 3 & 5
Scotland: Second *
Wales: Year 4
N. Ireland: P6

Box Carts – Setting up a fair and consistent experiment to test friction on different surfaces.

England: Year 3 & 5
Scotland: Second *
Wales: Year 4
N. Ireland: P6

Gear oh Gear – Explore how gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.

England: Year 5
Scotland: Second **
Wales: Year 5
N. Ireland: P6

Oh, Pulleys – Explore how pulleys allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.

England: Year 5
Scotland: Second *
Wales: Year 5
N. Ireland: P6

Lever Forever – Explore how levers allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.

England: Year 5
Scotland: Second **
Wales: Year 5
N. Ireland: P6

Activities
Speed Bumps Game – Explore friction by changing a track’s surface materials and the effect such surfaces have on a car’s motion and ability to climb hills.

England: Year 3 & 5
Scotland: Second *
Wales: Year 4
N. Ireland: P6

Box Carts – To investigate which surface will slow an object down the most.

England: Year 3 & 5
Scotland: Second *
Wales: Year 4
N. Ireland: P6

Vive La Resistance – Understanding friction force including air resistance and water resistance.

England: Year 3 & 5
Scotland: Second *
Wales: Year 4
N. Ireland: P6

On the Move – Students read the scale on a force meter to measure the weight of objects in Newtons.

England: Year 5
Scotland: Second *
Wales: Year 4
N. Ireland: P6

Topic Tools
Force Meter – Using a force meter to measure force in Newtons.

England: Year 5
Scotland: First ***-Second ***
Wales: Years 4-6
N. Ireland: P5-P7

Friction Force Meter – Investigate the force required to pull an object over a surface material.

England: Year 3 & 5
Scotland: First *** & Second **
Wales: Years 5-7
N. Ireland: P4

Underwater Force Meter – Investigate the force of ‘up-thrust’ by measuring forces underwater.

England: Year 5
Scotland: Second **-Second ***
Wales: Year 6
N. Ireland: P4, P6 & P7

Take a look at our video which features some of the fantastic content above!

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