Instructional Unit

2nd grade
Science: Forces and Motion

Science: Forces and Motion

(standards covered in the unit)
Objects position
Measurement, describing an object in relation to others

Forces
Push/Pull

Forces
Change objects direction

Tools and Machines

Gravity

5 Lesson Types
3 Inquiry lessons
1 Collaborative lesson
1 Direct Instruction lesson

Lesson #1: Collaborative

How can you describe an objects position?
Strategies:
Think-Pair-Share (into)
Find an object in the room, describe its position in relation to
other objects, and have your partner try to guess what the
object is

Group Work (through)

Stations for measurement

Partner work (beyond)

Applying the skills

Through: Stations around the room to measure the

distance between various objects.

Multiple Intelligences Addressed

Interpersonal: Group work
Linguistic: Have to write and work with words
Logical: Have to work with numbers
Visual/Spatial: Looking at pictures and objects

Lesson #2: Inquiry

Forces: Push and pull
INTO
Driving question
Think about when youre on the playground and trying to go
across the monkey bars. What type of motion allows you to
move across the monkey bars?

Picture File
Motion
Force
Push
Pull

THROUGH
Look at a map of playground activities
As a class we will talk about each activity.

Students will work with a partner to fill out this

organizer based on the playground map

Beyond
We will go into the playground and the students will
work with a partner to test whether something requires
a push or pull to put it into motion.

Multiple Intelligences Addressed

Interpersonal: Partner work
Visual/Spatial: Looking at pictures
Kinaesthetic: Moving around, hands on
Linguistic: Reading and writing

Lesson #3: Inquiry

How can you change an objects direction?
Strategies
Model: Push a ball in a variety of ways (kicking, rolling, throwing)
against an outside wall.
Ask the children how the ball changed direction when it hit the
wall?
Did it matter if I threw the ball harder or softer?
Picture File
Direction
Fiction
Speed
Collaborative learning
Partner Experiment
Reflection

Experiment
Through
Question: What will happen when one marble hits
another marble?
2 marbles on the table
Try to use one marble to move the other marble

Do the same experiment on the carpeted floor

Observe what happens.
Record what you see

Beyond
Refection with your partner
What happened when one marble hit another marble?
Was it easier to roll the marbles on the floor or table?
Why?

Did it change anything when you rolled one marble with a

lot of force?

Multiple Intelligences Addressed

Interpersonal: Partner work
Linguistic: Reading and writing
Visual/Spatial: pictures and hands on activity

Lesson #4: Inquiry

Tools and Machines
Strategies:
Driving question (into):
How do tools and machines help us do work?
Ex. How do I use a hammer? Would I still be able to do the
job without it?
Picture file
Different tools
Video of a pulley

Lesson #4: Through

Experiment (through)
How can we make a pulley to move the cup full of rocks off
the ground?
Make a hypothesis
Cup with handle
Rocks
Spool and pencil
String and tape

Lesson #4
Reflection
What did you do to lift the rocks off the ground?
How did the pulley help move the cup of rocks?
Could we have used a different tool to do the same thing?

Multiple Intelligences Addressed

Interpersonal: Partner work
Linguistic: Reading and writing
Logical: Trying to figure out how to make something
Visual/Spatial: Pictures and hand on activity

Lesson #5: Direct Instruction

Gravity
Why do things fall to the ground?
Do heavier or lighter items fall to the ground quicker?
Think-pair-share

Picture file
Gravity
Weight
Mass

Lesson #5: Through

Graphic organizer
Question
Example: Which will hit the ground first, the baseball or
basketball?

Hypothesis
Reflection

Lesson #5: Through

I will present students with a variety of items, such as a
basketball and baseball
Students will predict which items will fall to the ground
first when dropped from the same height.
I will then drop the various items.

Lesson #5: Beyond

Students will use the knowledge gained in the lesson to
reflect on whether or not their hypotheses were correct
If they were incorrect, why?
If they were correct, why?

Multiple Intelligences Addressed

Intrapersonal: Doing individual work
Linguistic: Reading, writing, speaking
Visual/spatial: picture file, videos, realia