Grade 3

3.1 Forces & Interactions

How can we design objects to balance and move in different ways?

Developer	Score	Report	Awarded
OpenSciEd	Total Score: 9 E: Example of high-quality NGSS design	Download Report (PDF)

Unit Summary

Have you ever seen something in the world that is balanced in an interesting or puzzling way? Have you wondered how it stays balanced without falling over? This unit launches with art sculptures that do just this – the sculptures balance and move in ways that make students wonder how they work. Through a series of investigations, students develop ideas about the multiple forces acting on a sculpture to keep it upright and not fall over, or to create predictable motion. Students plan and carry out investigations to test what works and does not work to design sculptures. The unit then re-anchors with a new type of sculpture – one that moves in interesting ways using magnets with nothing making contact. Students learn about the size and direction of forces between magnets and between magnets and some metal objects. Students then apply these ideas about magnets to design an object and device that solves a problem.