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  • Kindergarten

    Forces and Interactions: Pushes and Pulls

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Performance Expectations

  1. Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object K-PS2-1

    Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

  2. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull. K-PS2-2

    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 K–2 builds on prior experiences and progresses to simple investigations, based on fair tests, which provide data to support explanations or design solutions.

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

Analyzing data in K–2 builds on prior experiences and progresses to collecting, recording, and sharing observations.

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.K.1 - With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. (K-PS2-2)
  • SL.K.3 - Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood. (K-PS2-2)
  • W.K.7 - Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them). (K-PS2-1)

Mathematics

  • K.MD.A.1 - Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight. Describe several measurable attributes of a single object. (K-PS2-1)
  • K.MD.A.2 - Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has "more of"/"less of" the attribute, and describe the difference. (K-PS2-1)
  • MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (K-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.
  • Making Objects Move

    In this lesson students identify ways to make objects move and construct a structure that can be used to move an object from one place to another.

  • Just For Kicks

    After completing this activity, students should be able to explain the strengths of forces created when pushing an object using different methods (kicking or pushing with their arms and hands). They may share strategies on controlling the direction o ...

  • Watching the Wind - K-2 The Wind Moves Things

    Students will identify that the wind (moving air) can move objects and has power.

  • Engineering Encounters: Engineering Adaptations

    This resource highlights that many of the science investigations that teachers are currently using in their classrooms can easily be adapted to engage students in engineering design.  In this article the authors share two examples of how they ad ...

  • Turn, Turn, Turn- A Simple Assessment

    This assessment activity may be used after students have been exploring different aspects of movement, including pushes from outside forces. They will apply this knowledge in a fun assessment activity. This is #9 in a unit of lessons about force and ...

  • Understanding Energy

    This 5E inquiry-based energy lesson engages K–2 students to learn about energy flow in everyday life. Students observe and investigate potential and kinetic energy and use these investigations to formulate their evidence-based explanations abou ...

  • Engineering Motion

    This article provides insight on an a first grade derby car engineering activity.  First graders build derby cars while enhancing their communication skills. This lesson illustrates how the engineering design process, coupled with differentiatio ...

  • Catch Me If You Can!

    This resource is an introductory kindergarten STEM unit that focused on building a trap to catch a gingerbread man.  This activity integrates STEM with literacy as students read, write, learn about pushes and pulls, and design a trap for th ...

  • Ramps 2: Ramp Builder

    This is a multi-day lesson plan that has students design, build, and test their own ramps. Students are introduced to a variety of materials and explore putting them together. Students engage in an inquiry-based learning experience to reinforce math, ...

  • Physical Education Meets Physical Science

    In an effort to incorporate science into an early childhood physical education program, a physical education teacher worked with kindergarten teachers, a science teacher, and a science curriculum coordinator. Together they looked at the science conte ...

  • Invent a Backscratcher from Everyday Materials

    Being able to recognize a problem and design a potential solution is the first step in the development of new and useful products. In this activity, students create devices to get "that pesky itch in the center of your back." Once the idea ...

  • Marble Roll

    This is an assessment probe from the book Uncovering Student Ideas in Primary Science Vol. 1 that is used to elicit children's descriptions of motion. The probe is designed to reveal how students describe the path of a moving object as it leaves ...

  • How Does Your Garden Grow

    A lesson plan based on the book Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming where bunnies keep getting a farmer’s vegetable garden and eating his vegetables. Students will design and build something to prevent the bunnies from getting into the veget ...

  • Push Pull-Changing Direction

    Students will investigate the interactions between colliding objects using pushes and pulls. After listening to the book, Push and Pull by Charlotte Guillian, students will play a game of kickball and observe how the ball is pushed, pulled, started, ...

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