• Back

  • 3rd Grade

    Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Performance Expectations

  1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object. 3-PS2-1

    Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

A Peformance Expectation (PE) is what a student should be able to do to show mastery of a concept. Some PEs include a Clarification Statement and/or an Assessment Boundary. These can be found by clicking the PE for "More Info." By hovering over a PE, its corresponding pieces from the Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts will be highlighted.

Science and Engineering Practices

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

Planning and carrying out investigations to answer questions or test solutions to problems in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to include investigations that control variables and provide evidence to support explanations or design solutions.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

By clicking on a specific Science and Engineering Practice, Disciplinary Core Idea, or Crosscutting Concept, you can find out more information on it. By hovering over one you can find its corresponding elements in the PEs.

Planning Curriculum

Common Core State Standards Connections

ELA/Literacy

  • RI.3.1 - Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. (3-PS2-1)
  • W.3.7 - Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic. (3-PS2-1)
  • W.3.8 - Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories. (3-PS2-1)

Mathematics

  • 3.MD.A.2 - Measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l). Add, subtract, multiply, or divide to solve one-step word problems involving masses or volumes that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as a beaker with a measurement scale) to represent the problem. (3-PS2-1)
  • MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (3-PS2-1)
  • MP.5 - Use appropriate tools strategically. (3-PS2-1)

Model Course Mapping

First Time Visitors

Resources & Lesson Plans

  • More resources added each week!
    A team of teacher curators is working to find, review, and vet online resources that support the standards. Check back often, as NSTA continues to add more targeted resources.
  • Newton and Me

    Newton and Me tells the story of a young boy and how he discovers the Disciplinary Core Ideas of Forces and Motion in his daily activities with his dog.  Readers follow these best friends as the boy applies these core ideas to the throwing of a ...

  • Ocean Engineering and Designing for the Deep Sea (Book)

    Ocean Engineering and Designing for the Deep Sea by Rebecca Sjonger, is a non-fiction text that shares real-life examples of how ocean engineers design equipment to study the deep sea. A design challenge is embedded to help students understand key co ...

  • Swinging with Style

    In this lesson, which is an associated activity to the curated resource The Science of Swinging, students further investigate the variables that affect a pendulum’s motion by riding a playground swing. Students then extend their knowledge ...

  • Straw Rockets Are Out of This World

    Students will be investigating the effect that balanced and unbalanced forces have on straw rockets as they design their own rocket to see how far it can travel. Students will be testing and evaluating variables, as well as collecting and analyzing f ...

  • Stuck!

    In this "Everyday Science Mystery" students are asked to investigate why Jimmy was able to go down a new slide very quickly while dressed in jeans, but struggled down the slide when wearing shorts the next day. This resource is presented as ...

  • Experimenting with Force and Motion Using Origami Frogs

    Students conduct an investigation through measurement and data analysis of origami frog jumping to predict future motion. The effects of balanced and unbalanced forces are explicitly discussed. This lesson is from “Activitie ...

  • Invisible Forces Mystery 3: How Can You Go Faster Down a Slide?

    “How Can You Go Faster Down a Slide?  is one of four mysteries that comprise a "Mystery Science" unit on forces and their interactions.  Students are posed the driving question: How can you go fastest down a slide? &nbs ...

  • Rocket Activity 3....2....1....PUFF!

    This paper rocket activity is part of the NASA Rocket Educator Guide (https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Rockets.html) that emphasizes hands-on science, prediction, data collection and interpretation ...

  • Collision Zone

    Students make predictions, then investigate what will happen when balls of various sizes, weights, and material compositions collide with one another.  Trials provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the mot ...

  • SCAMPERing Into Engineering!

    In this activity, students use the SCAMPER brainstorming tool to design a car that can overcome air resistance. The SCAMPER strategy encourages students through a series of questions, to brainstorm things they could change or modify to make a di ...

  • Designing a Hovercraft

    Students are introduced to the trial, error, and redesign of the engineering process in the book  Captain Arsenio: Adventures and (Mis) adventures in Flight by Pablo Bernasconi. In a follow up activity, students consider ...

  • How Does Force Affect Motion?

    This article describes a series of easy to implement activities that develop the student’s ability to explain what force is, how forces can change the motion of an object, and identify forces acting on an object at rest.  It will also enab ...

  • Gravity Racers

    Through experimentation and active investigation of motion and forces, students are challenged to design, build, and test a simple gravity-powered car that is at least 8 cm wide and less than 30 cm long.  The completed Gravity Rac ...

  • Javier Builds a Bridge / To Get To The Other Side:Building Bridges

    To Get to the Other Side: Designing Bridges is an engineering unit from EIE and The Museum of Science in Boston geared towards Grades 1-5.  Students will be building upon their knowledge of pushes and pulls as they explore how for ...

  • Robo Arm

    This fun activity is one of five in a series of space based engineering challenges developed by NASA and Design Squad where students are engaged in implementing the Engineering Design process to build a robotic arm that can lift a cup off a table usi ...

  • Do you have a great resource to share with the community? Click here.

Planning Curriculum gives connections to other areas of study for easier curriculum creation.