KS3 ~ Year 7 ~ Squashing & Stretching Forces

This lesson is designed for the Activate KS3 Science Course, specifically Year 7 P1 ’Forces’.

For more lessons designed for KS3 and KS4 please visit my shop at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/SWiftScience.

This lesson starts with a recap on the differences between contact and non-contact forces. Students are given a list of forces and a variety of pictures, they need to match the correct name of the force with the correct picture and decide whether this is a contact or non-contact force. This task can self-assessed using the mark scheme provided.

Students are now introduced to the concept of a ‘reaction force’, with examples of a ball hitting the floor and a person walking along the ground. Students are shown a particle diagram to demonstrate what is happening. Next, students are introduced to the idea of an elastic cord or spring being affected by ‘extension’ and ‘tension’ forces. To assess students knowledge of what they have learned so far they will complete a progress check, a set of questions which students can answer in their books. This task can then be self-assessed using the mark scheme provided.

The last part of the lesson will look at Hooke’s law, students will conduct an investigation where they will investigate Hooke’s law. This practical involves students adding 1 Newton weights to a hanger which is attached to an elastic band. Every time a new weight is added, the distance between two marked point on the elastic band is measured. Students should carry out the investigation, record their results in a the table and then plot a graph of their results. Hopefully, students will draw a linear graph and be able to identify what Hooke’s law is from their results. Students can check their work against the results provided in the PowerPoint.

Finally, students are asked to complete a ‘Sentence Link-Up’ task, this is a literacy task which requires students to link three words in a summary sentence. This work can be self-assessed once it is complete using the answers provided on the PowerPoint.

The plenary requires students to write three quiz questions to test their knowledge of what they have learned this lesson.

All resources are included at the end of the presentation. Thanks for looking, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments section and any feedback would be appreciated :)