Texas TEKS 3.7.B
The Standard
plan and conduct a descriptive investigation to demonstrate and explain how position and motion can be changed by pushing and pulling objects such as swings, balls, and wagons.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students plan and carry out an investigation using pushes and pulls. They observe, measure, and describe changes in an object's position, speed, or direction.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students choose materials, write clear steps, and record starting and ending positions. They use their observations to explain which push or pull caused each change in motion.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a force only starts motion, rather than stopping, slowing, speeding up, or changing direction. They may confuse position with distance traveled or assume every object responds the same way.
How to Assess It
- Give each student a toy car with string and two tape markers. Have them plan one push and one pull, mark positions, and explain each motion change.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Use a toy wagon, string, tape, and meterstick to compare its position after a gentle pull and a stronger pull.
Show a ball rolling toward a wall and ask, "What push or pull could change its speed, direction, or position?"
Play Force Charades: students act out pushing or pulling an object, while classmates name the force and predict the motion change.
At the playground, observe a swing, then draw and label how a push and a pull change its position and motion.
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Printable 3.7.B Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 3.7.B, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- 1.7.B
plan and conduct a descriptive investigation that predicts how pushes and pulls can start, stop, or change the speed or direction of an object's motion.
- 3.8.B
plan and conduct investigations that demonstrate how the speed of an object is related to its mechanical energy.
- 5.7.A
investigate and explain how equal and unequal forces acting on an object cause patterns of motion and transfer of energy; and
- 2.7.B
plan and conduct a descriptive investigation to demonstrate how the strength of a push and pull changes an object's motion.
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