5 E Lesson:

Lesson Cycle Title:

Targeted TEKS: 8.6(A) demonstrate and calculate how unbalanced forces change the
speed or direction of an objects motion

Engage The teacher will begin the lesson by telling students, Today you will be
learning about forces and how they affect the motion of objects. What is a force?
(Students should be able to reply that a force is a push or pull6 th grade science TEKS).
As you are sitting there what forces is acting on you? (students should be able to reply
that gravity is pulling on them).
We will be watching a short video clip and as you view the clip I want you to focus on the
forces that affect the house.
Teacher shows a YouTube video clip of the movie UP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=N1NLzBGJavc. After watching this video, the teacher will ask students questions. Why
did the house go up? What was causing an unbalanced force? What would happen if
there were less balloons? Was there a point when the forces acting on the house were
balanced (all forces were equal)when?

Explore - We will dig deeper into

Explain - Students will answer the

exploring forces and how they affect

objects with an activity involving marbles.
Before we begin I want you to get into
groups of 4. Decide in your groups which
person will be in charge of each of the
following roles:
materials manager, reporter/speaker, data
collector, facilitator/marble flicker. The
teacher will model the instructions and
students will note them on their paper.

following questions in their groups.

1. Which marble was hit by the big
one?
2. Did the big marble change direction
and/or speed when it hit the other
marbles?
3. Did the big marble keep moving or
stop moving?
4. What happened to the movement of
the marbles that were in the circle?
5. Does the amount of force exerted by
the flicker on the big marble affect
the distance traveled by the marbles
in the circle?

Directions say:
1. Get 5 marbles, 1 big one. Draw a circle
on a paper as the land pad.
2. Place marbles in a circle.
3. Flick the large marble towards other
marbles.
4. Make observation about the direction
and motion of each of the marbles and
fill out data sheet.
5. Repeat Steps 1-4 three times to collect

Teacher will follow up with a classroom

discussion about
The type of force exerted by the big
marble on the other marbles? (push)
When during the investigation were
the forces balanced?

3 data sets.

in what ways can a force affect the

motion of an object?

Elaborate Lets dig deeper and explore this concept some more with some
scenarios. We will go through the Combining Forces worksheet. Teacher will model the
how to calculate the net force of example 1. After students are done, the teacher will ask
students to circle the scenarios where the forces were balanced and go further into
forces and demonstrate how unbalanced forces = net force and balance forces = no net
force.

Evaluate - Try the following word problem on your own to demonstrate an

understanding of force on objects.
A mother is pushing her child in a stroller. A result of the force exerted on the stroller by
the mother, the stroller is moving at a constant speed of 1 m/s. What will happen if the
force is changed to 1.5 m/s? Explain your answer.
A The stroller will move at a constant speed of 2.5 m/s.
B The speed of the stroller will not change.
C The speed of the stroller will increase.
D The speed of the stroller will decrease to 0.5 m/s.