T E

A C H E R S

N O T E S

Focus:

Students explore forces: what they are, what they do, and how they affect people and structures. Students also explore what machines do and their relationship with forces.

Learning Goals:

Students will have opportunities to learn how to correctly use the terms force, simple machine, complex machine, axle, gear, load, structure, structural feature what a force is when a force is acting about the six simple machines what a complex machine is what a structure is and what forces act on them what a structural feature is how forces can be dangerous about protective and preventive safety equipment that can protect us from forces

Discussion Prompts:

What is a force? How can you tell when a force is acting? What is a simple machine? What are the six simple machines? What is a complex machine? What is a structure? What is a structural feature? How can forces be dangerous to people? What kinds of equipment can protect us from forces?

Assess students responses during discussions. - re students able to identify different forces and A how they act on objects? (e.g., tension, compression, friction) - an students identify and define the six simple C machines and provide examples of each? - an students define what a complex machine is C and give one or two examples? - an students identify forces that affect structures? C Can they describe some structural features and how they help structures stand up to forces? - an students identify how forces can be C dangerous? Can they describe ways in which safety equipment can protect us from these dangers?

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Assessment Prompts:

Do students demonstrate, in their discussion and answers to questions, understanding of the science vocabulary used in the cards for this unit? Are students able to carry out the skills of scientific inquiry, following activity procedure steps safely and accurately, making observations when appropriate?

Card 1: Card 2: Card 3: Card 4: Card 5:

Links to PCSP Student Book Force Factor:

see Lessons 1 and 3 see Lessons 4-6 see Lessons 4-6 see Lessons 2 and 7-9 see Lesson 10

Focus:

Students explore what forces are and how to know when forces are in action.

Activity Description: There are two orange icons in the left margin. When students click on the first orange icon, text describes the tension force. Text from the second orange icon describes the friction force. Students then click on the orange icon on the right side of the Gripping and Slipping screen to learn more about tension as well as two other forces: compression and torque. Learning Goals: Students explore and identify four forces: tension, friction, compression, and torque. Ask Students: Why is it easy to slip and fall when you walk on ice, but easier to stay upright on a gravel path? ( friction: friction causes two surfaces that are in contact and moving past each other to slow down or stop; a smooth surface like ice creates less friction than a gravel path. ) What is compression and can you give your own example? ( Compression is when an object is squeezed from
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Introduce students to the topic with the video of two baseball players pitching and hitting a ball. Discuss the video and any comments or questions students may have.
Activity Description: Students click on a series of bungee jumping images. Each image has an accompanying caption describing which force is acting in that part of the bungee jump. Learning Goal: Students identify the forces at work during a bungee jump. Ask Students: How does gravity act on a bungee jumper? ( When the person jumps, gravity pulls the person towards the ground. Gravity causes the persons fall to speed up as the fall progresses. )
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Activity Description: Text describes that gravity is the force acting on everything at all times. Students then click on the orange icon and are shown how forces work when a person rides a bicycle. Learning Goals: Students identify gravity as a force that acts on them all the time. Students examine the forces at work when they ride a bicycle. Ask Students: What force is constantly at work on all things on Earth? ( gravity ) What causes a bicycle to start moving? ( a
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Activity Description: Text describes basic ideas relating to contact forces. Students click on the orange icon and are taken to a drag-and-drop activity about forces that act on a boat. Learning Goals: Students identify and explore how gravity and buoyancy act on a boat, enabling it to float or sink. Ask Students: Does buoyancy push up on a boat or pull down on it? ( push up ) If you load up a boat with too many things, what happens to the boat and why? ( The boat will sink, because gravity, which pulls down on the boat, becomes stronger than buoyancy pushing up on the boat.) Assessment:Can students describe how gravity and buoyancy push and pull on a boat, causing it either to float or to sink?

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Activity Description: Students investigate how far a skateboard travels on rough ground compared to smooth ground. Students click on the orange icon and are taken to a screen that describes friction is stronger on rough rather than smooth ground. Students click on the orange continue button to learn that friction causes wear and tear on machinery and can create heat. Friction can be reduced by adding a lubricant such as oil. Learning Goal: Students expand their knowledge of the force of friction. Ask Students: In your investigation, why does the skateboard travel different distances? ( Friction causes the skateboard to travel a shorter distance on rough ground than on smooth ground. ) Why do the skateboard wheels cool when you add a bit of oil? ( Oil reduces friction between the moving parts. Less friction reduces the amount of heat.) Assessment: Were students able to carry out the procedure steps correctly and safely, recording their results with accuracy? Can students provide a reasonable explanation to account for why the skateboard travels different distances in the investigation? Are students able to describe that friction is ultimately responsible for stopping the skateboard, whether on rough or smooth ground?
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push-force ) What force always causes the bicycle to slow down? ( friction ) How can you overcome that force? ( by pedalling ) What force can cause the bike to slow down or speed up? ( riding uphill, gravity slows the bike; riding downhill, gravity speeds up the bike )
Assessment: Can students explain that gravity is acting on them and on all objects on Earth? Are students able to identify different forces that are in action when riding a bicycle and describe how those forces affect movement of the bike?
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opposite sides. ) What is tension and can you give an example? ( Tension is when an object is stretched from opposite sides.) What is torque and can you think of an example? ( Torque is when an object is turned or rotated. ) Students may wish to make a poster presentation with text that defines compression, tension, and torque.
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Assessment: Are students able to describe why it is easier to walk on a gravel path rather than on ice? Can students define and provide at least one example for each of these three forces: tension, compression, and torque?
PCSP Interactive Science Teachers Notes

How does tension act on the bungee jumper? ( As the bungee jumper falls, the bungee cord is stretched out, causing tension. When the tension grows too taut, the cord springs back, pulling the bungee jumper back up. ) How does friction act during a bungee jump? ( Friction occurs between the air rushing around the persons body, but friction does not slow the person down much, as gravity is stronger. ) Assessment: Can students describe how gravity and tension act on a bungee jumper during a jump?

Focus:

Students explore the six simple machines and how they become complex machines.

Activity Description: Students click through a series of screens, each of which shows a simple machine and explains what each one does. Learning Goals: Students explore the basic function of the six simple machines. Ask Students: What are the six simple machines? (inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever, wheel and axle, and pulley) Choose two simple machines. Can you describe what they do and give an example of each? (Students may wish to make a poster with pictures or illustrations as examples and add captions to explain what each simple machine does. Encourage students to present more than two simple machines.)
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Introduce students to the topic with the video of a cyclist pedalling a bicycle. Discuss the video and any comments or questions students may have.

Activity Description: Students are shown visuals of simple machines. Students play a timed drag-and-drop activity in which they drag the names for the correct simple machine into the blanks of a sentence.
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Activity Description: Text and visual describe and show that tongs are two levers joined together. Two more visuals show how chopsticks and nutcrackers are also two levers. Students click on the orange icon to play a timed drag-and-drop activity. Learning Goals: Students identify objects and devices that are levers and wedges. Ask Students: What is a lever? (a straight bar or rod that rotates about a fixed place) What is a wedge? (an object with one or more sloping sides that may end in a
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Learning Goals: Students extend their knowledge of the six simple machines and learn examples of each. Ask Students: Now that students have had greater exposure to the six simple machines and examples of each, ask them to define all six simple machines in
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Activity Description: Students are asked to design (not construct) a machine to raise a flag in a complicated wayto use as many of the six simple machines as possible in their design. Students draw and label their design to indicate which simple machines are in the design. Students then click on the orange icon to see an animation of simple machines in action to raise the flag. Learning Goals: Students follow procedure steps and design a flag-raising mechanism that uses many simple machines to accomplish the task. Ask Students: What simple machines did you use in your design to raise the flag? Can you describe how your machine would work? (Ask students to show the class their design and to describe how each simple machine would trigger the next simple machine, ultimately causing the flag to be raised.) Assessment: Can students create a design to raise a flag that would use several simple machines to accomplish the task? Can students clearly explain how each simple machine functions in their flag-raising design?
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Assessment: Are students able to identify the six simple machines? Can they describe what at least two simple machines do and give examples of them?

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any format they choose: written, oral, or illustrated. Assessment: Are students able to identify all six simple machines and provide accurate definitions of each, along with examples?

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sharp edge or point ) What are some examples of levers and wedges? (Students may use examples from the activity and you may want to challenge them to come up with other examples on their own.)
Assessment: Are students able to accurately identify a variety of examples of levers and wedges?

PCSP Interactive Science Teachers Notes

Focus:

Students explore how machines do work.

Activity Description: Text describes that all machines need a source of energy to work and that some machines use human energymuscle poweras their source of energy. Students click on the visuals, which are examples of each simple machine. When clicked, each visual is magnified, and students read text that describes how the simple machine works. The examples of an inclined plane, wheel and axle, and lever, all have orange icons with additional information. The example of the lever also includes a drag-and-drop activity. Learning Goals: To identify examples of simple machines that work with human muscle power. Students also identify three different kinds of levers and a variety of wheels and axles.
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Introduce students to the topic with the video of people using pulleys to raise a sail on a sail boat. Discuss the video and any comments or questions students may have.

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Activity Description: Text describes how people use force with their bodies when playing sports. Text also describes that people use simple machines when playing sports. Students click on the orange icon and play a timed drag-and-drop activity, where they drag the correct labels of simple machines onto the sporting equipment in the visual. Learning Goal: Students explore simple machines in sporting equipment. Ask Students: What is your favourite sport to play or to watch? What equipment is used in that sport? What simple machine(s) is part of that equipment? (Students may need to use the Internet. This can help them determine which simple machines are incorporated into the equipment.)
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Activity Description: Students follow procedure steps to construct a lever using a ruler, some tape, and a pencil. Students use the pencil as the fulcrum at different points on the ruler to gauge how much effort it takes to lift the weight taped at one end of the ruler. Students then click on an orange icon and are asked, How can one person lift three people on a seesaw? Text describes that if three people sit close to the fulcrum on one side of the seesaw, and one person sits far from the fulcrum on the other side of the seesaw, then their weights balance out, enabling the one person to lift the three people. Students see this concept in action by dragging the three people in the animation towards the fulcrum of the seesaw. Learning Goals: Students carry out an investigation to construct a lever and to determine the effort it takes to life a load with the fulcrum in different positions. Ask Students: What were your observations during the investigation? Which took the most effort: lifting the load when the pencil was at the mark, mark, or mark? How can one person on one side of a seesaw lift three people on the other side of the seesaw? (Ask students to explain in their own words how this is possible, using the text and animated activity to help them.) Assessment: Could students carry out the investigation procedure steps successfully, recording and reporting their observations accurately? Are students able to explain how one person can lift three people on a seesaw?

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Ask Students: What do all machines need to do work? (a source of energy) What source of energy is used by all the examples of simple machines in the activity? (human muscle power ) Can you draw diagrams of the three kinds of levers? (This can be difficult, so encourage students to refer to the diagrams in the activity to help them.) Assessment: Are students able to identify that all machines need sources of power to do work and that the examples in the activity use human power? Are students able to draw accurate diagrams of the three kinds of levers?
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Assessment: Are students able to identify the simple machines found in the sporting equipment in the activity? Can students identify the simple machines found in the sporting equipment of their favourite sports?
PCSP Interactive Science Teachers Notes

Focus:

Students explore forces that affect structures and how people design structures.

Activity Description: Text identifies three main functions of humanmade structures. Text describes what it means for a human-made structure to support and gives two examples of structures that support. Students click the orange continue button two more times to learn what it means for a humanmade structure to surround and span, with examples given for each. On the screen that describes how structures span, students click an orange icon to play a timed drag-and-drop activity. Learning Goals:Students identify and explore the three main functions of human-made structures: to support, span, or surround.
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Activity Description: Text describes how natural forces in deserts, such as extreme temperature shifts or wind, affect natural structures such as rock. Students click the orange continue button and read that tropical regions have different natural forces that affect structures. Students then click on the orange icon. They play a timed multiple choice activity in which they are presented with visuals of natural structures that have been affected by a force. Learning Goal: Students explore the forces that affect natural structures in two natural environments. Students identify the forces that affected three specific natural structures. Ask Students: What kinds of forces can affect natural structures in a desert? And how are the structures affected? (the rise and fall of temperature causes rock to expand and contract, which weakens the rock; wind can blow sand causing sandstorms, which blasts the surface off of rock) What kinds of forces can affect structures in a tropical environment?
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Introduce students to the topic with the video of a tsunami rushing into a hotel resort courtyard. Discuss the video and any comments or questions students may have.

Activity Description: Students play a timed drag-and-drop word scramble activity in which they unscramble words of different kinds of structures. Learning Goal: Students identify structures that are made with different materials. Ask Students: Make a list of the structures in the activity. What is the purpose of each structure? What materials are they made from? How are the materials suitable to the purpose of each structure? (Students may wish to describe their ideas orally rather than writing them down.) Assessment: Are students able to identify how the materials are suitable to the purpose of each structure?

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Activity Description: Students follow procedure steps to test the strength of two different design shapes (pyramid and cube shapes). Students then click the orange icon near the Think question. Students drag and drop blocks first to form a pyramid shape and then to form a cuboid shape. They are asked to predict which shape is the strongest. They click the orange continue button to find out if their prediction was correct. Learning Goal: Students test two design shapes to determine which is stronger. Ask Students: All student groups compare their test results: Which shape was strongest, the cuboid or pyramid shape? (Students results may vary, but they will find out during the drag-and-drop activity that the pyramid shape is strongest.) Ask while students are doing the dragand-drop activity: Which shape is strongest, the pyramid or cuboid? Can you explain why? ( The pyramid because each block in the pyramid is supported by four blocks below.) Assessment: Are students able to follow the procedure steps accurately to build and test two design shapes? Can students correctly identify which design shape is strongest and explain why?

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Ask Students: What are the three main functions of human-made structures? (to support, span, or surround) Choose three human-made structures in the classroom. What is the main function of each of those structures? (e.g., a desk supports, elastic bands span, a hat surrounds) Assessment: Are students able to identify the three main functions of human-made structures? Are students able to complete the drag-and-drop activity correctly? Can students successfully identify objects in the classroom as having one of the three main functions?
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And how are the structures affected? ( Humidity causes structures to rust or rot. Salt spray, strong wind, and rain can damage or destroy structures.) Can you find examples of natural structures on the Internet? What forces affected these structures? Assessment: Are students able to identify and describe the kinds of forces that affect structures in desert or tropical environments? Can they explain how structures are affected by these forces? Are students able to identify forces that affected the structures in the activity? Can they successfully research other natural structures and identify which forces affected them?
PCSP Interactive Science Teachers Notes

Focus:

Students explore the dangers of forces and how safety equipment can protect people from forces.

Activity Description: Text describes the importance of safety equipment, when playing sports in the water, travelling in a car, riding a bicycle, and skateboarding. Learning Goals: To identify important safety equipment in particular situations and why the equipment is important. Ask Students: What safety equipment is important when playing around water, travelling in a car, riding a bicycle, or skateboarding? (Encourage students to explain why in each instance. Students can use the detailed information from the Think screens for guidance.) Assessment: Are students able to describe different pieces of safety equipment and why they are important to our safetyhow they help protect us?

Introduce students to the topic with the video of an automobile crash test with crash test dummies. Discuss the video and any comments or questions students may have.

Activity Description: Text describes reasons why driving at higher speeds leads to increased risk of accident and/or injury. Students click on the orange icon. They play a timed drag-and-drop activity about automobile safety inventions. Learning Goals: Students identify the reasons for increased risk of high-speed driving. Students also identify the correct time of the invention of automobile safety features. Ask Students: Why does driving at a higher speed increase the risk of accident and injury? ( you require a greater distance to stop the vehicle; less time available
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Activity Description: Text describes the difference between protective and preventive safety equipment. Students then click on the orange icon and play a timed drag-and-drop activity. Learning Goals: Students learn about the difference between protective and preventive safety equipment and identify examples of each. Ask Students: What is the purpose of protective safety equipment? ( It protects the body from forces.) What is the purpose of preventive safety equipment? ( It warns people of danger and to prevent them getting into accidents.) Can you
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Activity Description: Students examine an illustration of a neighbourhood street scene and identify all the potential accidents they think could happen. Students then write a letter to the boy on the skateboard. In the letter, students describe to the boy why he should wear safety equipment. In their letter, students also identify what forces could hurt the boy and to explain how safety equipment can protect the boy from those forces. Students then click on the orange icon. They are shown the same street scene. They click on orange icons to read what is unsafe in the picture and why. Learning Goals: Students identify what activities are potentially unsafe in a street. Students describe why it is important to wear safety equipment when skateboarding with reference to specific forces that impact a persons body. Ask Students: What accidents do you think could happen in the picture? (Students can write down their ideas or make suggestions during a class discussion. Record students ideas during class discussion and see how they match up against what is identified as unsafe in the second part of the activity.) What did you say to the boy in your letter? What kinds of safety equipment did you suggest he use and why? Assessment: Were students able to identify the possible accidents and unsafe situations shown in the illustration? Did students write a clear letter to the boy in sentence and paragraph form? In their letters, were they able to identify specific pieces of safety equipment he should wear and why? Did students make reference to how specific forces could hurt the boy and how safety equipment can help protect against these forces?
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think of other examples of protective and preventive safety equipment? (Students can describe other examples, create a collage of images, or they can create a computer slideshow of images.) Assessment: Are students able to describe the difference between protective and preventive safety equipment? Can they identify examples of safety equipment either verbally or in a visual presentation?
PCSP Interactive Science Teachers Notes

to react to hit the brakes before impact; the faster a vehicle moves, the harder it will hit in an impact) How do the car features in the activity help protect people when theyre driving? (air bags cushion people during an impact; seat belts help hold a persons body in place; side airbags help protect and cushion people from impacts from the side of the car; high-level brake lights make it easier for other drivers to see when you brake, increasing the chances that they will brake before hitting your car; safety-glass windows stop small pieces of glass from flying into a persons body on impact )
Assessment: Are students able to identify why higher-speed driving increases risk of accident and injury? Can students provide explanations of how each automobile feature in the timeline increases safety?

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