Force
Forces and Motion

Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: Levers

Teaching Guidance for 11-14 Supporting Physics Teaching

Bringing together two sets of constraints

Focusing on the learners:

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How to:

  • subvert the notion that you get something done for nothing
  • draw on the work done in identifying forces acting on objects
  • make the compensating quantities, and the pattern of compensation, explicit
  • use a wide range of everyday examples

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:

  • be systematic in your use of terms
  • adopt helpful conventions
  • relate the action of the machines to fundamental physics

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.

IOP AWARDS 2025

Teachers of Physics Awards

The Teachers of Physics Award celebrates the success of secondary school physics teachers who have raised the profile of physics and science in schools. Nominations for 2025 are now open.

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