{"id":1671,"date":"2009-09-07T16:53:14","date_gmt":"2009-09-07T21:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1671"},"modified":"2009-09-07T16:53:14","modified_gmt":"2009-09-07T21:53:14","slug":"teaching-physical-science-with-childrens-literature-forces-make-things-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/09\/07\/teaching-physical-science-with-childrens-literature-forces-make-things-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: Forces Make Things Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Forces Make Things Move<\/a>, written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and illustrated by Paul Meisel, is from the “Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out” series (stage 2) which explores more challenging concepts for kids in the primary grades. The idea of invisible forces (such as friction and gravity) might be somewhat abstract to children, but since they\u00a0experience them everyday, this book relates the concepts to them in an easier way to understand.\u00a0 The story begins by explaining how pushing and pulling is a force, and how an object’s weight affects force.<\/p>\n

“It’s why a breeze can’t blow your family’s car off the driveway. Other things, like leaves and papers and hats, don’t weigh very much. Even tiny forces can make them fly around. A little wind makes enough forces to make them move. But if your big brother is lying on the living room couch, you’re going to have to push pretty hard to force him off” (p. 8-9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The second part of learning about forces and movement, is\u00a0discovering what makes things stop.\u00a0 Why won’t your toy car just keep going forever if it doesn’t hit anything to make it stop? This is the concept of FRICTION.\u00a0 The book continues to explain about how different surfaces, including air and space, have more or less friction.<\/p>\n

The final section of the book describes gravity. Kids don’t often\u00a0wonder why they walk on the ground instead of the ceiling, but Forces Make Things Move<\/em> explains how big of a force the earth exerts on objects. “Gravity is such a part of our everyday lives that you probably don’t even think about it. If you spill a glass of milk, you expect it to spill down, onto the floor, rather than up, onto the ceiling” (p. 27).<\/p>\n

Like any good science book, the end of the story includes a science experiment for kids.\u00a0 It is a very simple experiment about friction where the student uses a toy car and a ramp with different\u00a0materials (sandpaper, towel, waxed paper, ect.)\u00a0placed at the end. The student then decides which material has more friction and why.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong>
\nThis book\u00a0could be used as early as first grade to discuss force as\u00a0pushes and pulls, using objects like toy cars (VA SOL 1.2).\u00a0 By grade four, the children could read and understand this book on their own, and it will support the learning of how forces cause changes in motion, as well as\u00a0the investigation of friction as an opposing force (VA SOL 4.2).<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n