The are a wide range of forces in many everyday situations that students might not be aware of. Using a spider map, students will identify and illustrate a range of different types of forces. You can make this activity easier or more challenging by changing the number of rows. Stretch your most advanced students by giving them a contextual constraint, for example, all of their examples of forces need to be found in football. Students should be encouraged to define the type of force in their storyboard alongside each example, but this is not a needed requirement.
Alternatively, print out the example storyboard and cut it up. Students can then match the force type with the visualization.
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Student Instructions
Demonstrate your understanding of forces by identifying where forces occur in real world contexts.
Connect learning to real life by having students observe their morning or after-school routines and list where they see different types of forces at play, such as friction when tying shoes or gravity when dropping a backpack. This helps students actively apply science concepts to familiar settings and deepens their understanding.
Encourage students to think of several real-world situations for each force type before starting their illustrations. Brainstorming first ensures a broader range of creative and relatable examples, making the activity more engaging and meaningful.
Demonstrate on the board how to draw arrows showing the direction and type of force in a scenario. Label each arrow with the force's name (e.g., 'friction' or 'gravity') so students understand how visuals connect to scientific ideas.
Organize students into pairs or small groups to share and discuss their force scenarios. Peer conversation helps students clarify misconceptions and discover new ways forces appear in everyday life.
Display student work around the classroom and have students walk around to view and reflect on each other's examples. This promotes collaboration and reinforces learning by exposing students to a variety of force applications.
Different types of forces students should know include lift, friction, drag, electrostatic force, magnetic force, weight, thrust, upthrust, tension, spring force, normal force, and applied force. These are commonly found in real-world situations and are important for understanding motion and interactions.
To teach types of forces with a spider map, have students create a central node labeled "Forces" and connect it to branches for each type of force. For each branch, students can illustrate real-world examples and add brief definitions, helping them visually organize and understand the relationships between different forces.
An easy activity is to assign each student or group a type of force and have them draw or find photos showing that force in action. Students can use arrows to indicate the direction of the force and explain it in their own words. Using a spider map or storyboards makes the lesson interactive and visual.
Challenge advanced students by adding contextual constraints, such as requiring all force examples to be found in a specific context like football. You can also increase difficulty by asking them to define each force or provide multiple real-world examples with explanations.
Applied force is a force that is directly exerted on an object by a person or another object. Normal force is the support force exerted by a surface, acting perpendicular to the surface, that balances the weight of an object resting on it.