To better understand the world, children need to know how and why objects interact. Researchers state that an essential thing in education is “emphasizing the learning of the central idea and making the needed connections with it” (Nie et al., 2019, p.1). Thus, it is crucial to demonstrate to children the influence of external forces on the movement of objects, which will make them understand the concept of Force and Motion. In further education, they will learn more about this from a physics course. However, at the very beginning of the educational path, they must learn the basics of the interaction between objects.
Oxlade (2018) explains forces in a simple way: “Forces are pushes and pulls. They can create motion, and they can stop motion, too” (p. 30). By conveying information to children in this way, a teacher can immediately give an example with any object, such as an apple, for instance. It can be rolled and stopped while explaining that different forces act on it to impart and stop the movement.
One more simple way to explain forces and motion can be shown by just making things fall to the floor. Thanks to this, children learn about one of the most important forces in the world: gravity. Troupe (2019) describes it using the example of beans falling to the ground and gives the following definition: “the force that pulls everything with mass toward Earth’s center” (p. 7). Since this is one of the basic elements of physics, it will be useful for children to learn this at an early age.
References
Oxlade, C. (2018). When forces and motion collide. Engage Literacy.
Nie, Y., Xiao, Y., Fritchman, J. C., Liu, Q., Han, J., Xiong, J. & Bao, L. (2019). Teaching towards knowledge integration in learning force and motion. International Journal of Science Education, 41(16), 1.
Troupe, T. (2019). Move on up that beanstalk, Jack! Picture Window Books.