• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Pushes and pulls). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Is this a push or a pull: shutting a door? (push / pull) → pushPrompt: Does the thing move away from you or towards you?
2. Which needs a bigger push to start moving? (a balloon / a full shopping trolley (cart) / a feather / an empty shopping trolley (cart)) → a full shopping trolley (cart)Prompt: Which one is heaviest?
3. Pushes and pulls: which statement is true? (A gentle push makes a ball go faster than a hard push. / Things can start moving all by themselves with no force. / A force can change the direction something is moving. / Opening a drawer is a push.) → A force can change the direction something is moving.Prompt: What can a force do to an object?

• Drop a sheet of paper and a scrunched-up sheet together and ask why one falls faster.
• Share the objective: What did the force do? Start, stop, turn or squash. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: What does the force do here: a ball bouncing off a wall?
• Step 1: The object kept moving but went a different way.
• Step 2: So the answer is: changes its direction
• Answer: changes its direction
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. What does the force do here: hitting a tennis ball back over the net? (starts it moving / stops it / changes its direction / changes its shape) → changes its directionPrompt: Was the object still or moving before the force?
2. In which of these does the force do this: changes its shape? (a wall stopping a rolling toy / squeezing modelling clay / heading a football / putting your foot down to stop a scooter) → squeezing modelling clayPrompt: Picture each action happening.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. In which of these does the force do this: stops it? (pushing a toy car off the starting line / stretching an elastic band / putting your foot down to stop a scooter / stepping on an empty can for recycling) → putting your foot down to stop a scooterPrompt: Picture each action happening.
2. A cyclist squeezes the brakes. What does the force do? (changes the bike's shape / makes the bike go faster / lifts the bike up / slows the bike down and stops it) → slows the bike down and stops itPrompt: What are brakes for?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/kindergarten.