Unit Plan 7 (Grade K Science): Sports & Motion
Kindergarten unit links pushes and pulls to sports, testing strength and direction, collecting data, and deciding if simple motion designs work as intended.
Focus: Connect classroom pushes and pulls to familiar sports, playground games, and everyday movement by testing how strength and direction change an object’s motion, then using simple data to decide whether a design solution works as intended.
Grade Level: K
Subject Area: Science (Physical Science • Engineering Design • Investigation Skills)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 30–45 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students connect what they’ve learned about pushes, pulls, strength, and direction to games they already know—like kicking a ball, rolling a bowling ball, sliding a scooter, or pushing a swing. Across the week, they investigate how changing the strength or direction of a push/pull changes how an object moves. Then they try simple “sports tools” (a ramp, a pusher, a paddle, or a guide wall) and collect quick data to decide if a design solution helps an object move the way they want.
Essential Questions
- How do pushes and pulls make objects move in sports and games?
- How does changing strength or direction change an object’s speed and where it goes?
- How can we use tests and data to decide if a design helps an object move the way we want?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Describe and demonstrate how a push or pull makes an object move in a familiar game or sport.
- Plan and conduct a simple investigation comparing strong vs. gentle pushes/pulls and different directions (K-PS2-1).
- Record and compare results using simple data (tallies, stickers, “far/medium/near,” “straight/curved”).
- Test a simple design solution (tool or change to the setup) and analyze whether it changes an object’s speed or direction as intended (K-PS2-2).
- Explain results using the words push, pull, strong, gentle, direction, and move.
Standards Alignment — Grade K (NGSS-Aligned)
- K-PS2-1 — 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-PS2-2 — 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.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can show how a push or pull makes something move.
- I can try a strong and a gentle push and notice what changes.
- I can change the direction of my push/pull and see where the object goes.
- I can collect simple data (tallies or stickers) to show what happened.
- I can tell if a design helped the object move the way we wanted.