Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: Contact Forces

Bringing together two sets of constraints

Focusing on the learners:

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How to:

• convince children that inanimate things can push, just like they can
• develop the idea that a mechanism underpins the interaction that is replaced by force
• convince children that air can exert forces

Teacher Tip: These are all related to findings about children's ideas from research. The teaching activities will provide some suggestions. So will colleagues, near and far.

Focusing on the physics:

Representing–noticing–recording. How to:

• relate floating and sinking to forces, not to rules about displaced fluids
• relate friction to the mechanisms of friction
• focus on the physical reasons for placing arrows
• justify omitting arrows from some diagrams

Teacher Tip: Connecting what is experienced with what is written and drawn is essential to making sense of the connections between the theoretical world of physics and the lived-in world of the children. Don't forget to exemplify this action.