This is a common conflation. Children know that magnets are associated with a magnetic force and that there is magnetism...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Some pupils will argue that air is needed to enable magnets to attract and repel each other.

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Some pupils only associate gravity with situations where something is falling.

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

You might try using Newton's thought experiment, of throwing a ball into orbit from a huge mountain to transfer this idea that...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Pupils are often unable to associate a force with an inanimate object. People can apply a force to objects–they make a...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Early introductions to forces in equilibrium will be via static situations. However, rather than identifying forces which sum...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

That moving things need a force to keep them going is a very common misconception. When questioned, a child might typically...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

A floor seems to just be. How such a passive object can provide an upward force is indeed a puzzle.

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

This misconception appears in two forms. The first holds that friction happens only when things move (slipping). This idea is...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

For many learners air is seen as nothing. Comparing the mass of air in a small domestic room to the mass of a child might help...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14

Pupils' everyday experiences of magnets are likely to focus on situations where the force of attraction is important: For...

Teaching Guidance 5-11 11-14