Virginia SOL 3.2.a

Science3rd GradeForce, Motion, and Energy

The Standard

multiple forces may act on an object

Virginia Standards of Learning for Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify the pushes and pulls acting on one object at the same time. They describe each force by its direction and predict how the object may move.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can examine a picture or demonstration and name more than one force acting on the object. The student can use arrows to show the direction of each force.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think only one force can act on an object at a time. They may also think a still object has no forces acting on it.
How to Assess It: Show a picture of two children pulling a wagon from opposite sides. Ask students to draw and label each force with an arrow.

Lesson moves

Attach strings to opposite ends of a toy cart, have two students pull, and observe the cart under different pulls.
Ask students to explain what forces act on a soccer ball while it is being kicked into the wind.
Play a force-arrow matching game using picture cards of objects being pushed or pulled from different directions.
Examine a playground swing and list the forces acting while someone pushes the rider forward and gravity pulls downward.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 3.2.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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