Lesson Plan: Balanced and Unbalanced Forces
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to determine whether forces are balanced or unbalanced and identify the effects of these forces on motion.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- know that forces work in pairs; every force leads to an equal and opposite force,
- identify whether forces are balanced or unbalanced,
- understand the term net force and determine its value in given situations using simple calculations,
- use force diagrams to identify balanced and unbalanced forces,
- understand that unbalanced forces lead to a change in motion.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the idea that a force is a push or a pull,
- types of forces, including friction, tension, spring forces, gravity, and magnetism,
- the concept of friction,
- basic addition to find sums up to 99,
- basic subtraction of 2-digit numbers,
- describing position, motion, relative position, and relative motion,
- describing the motion of an object using distance, time, direction, and speed.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- electric forces,
- how forces can be measured.