Motion and Stability:

Push and Pull

Jennifer Gutierrez &
Juana Morales
 Preflections
● Jennifer: There are various things that I plan to learn through the lesson plan assignment
and the natural science course this semester. I plan on learning more about connecting
science and mathematics. Specifically, the different formulas there are for both Chemistry
and Physics, but rather than memorizing the formulas learning how they are derived. I am
very interested in learning the history of science and how it has affected life on earth. I
would like to learn how mathematics is used for experiments and how these results have
supported laws and theories.
● Juana: When planning to be a teacher, lesson planning is by far the most important thing
that you need to learn how to do. In this class, we have the opportunity to have more
experience in creating them, and especially with science. I also want to increase my own
knowledge in science. Growing up I was good at math, science, on the other hand, was not
my best subject. In the little time this semester so far I've learned a couple of things that I
didn't know previously, like the Periodic Table.
 NGSS
K-PS2-1
Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or
direction of push and pulls on the motion of an object.
DCI: Forces and Motion
PS2.A
- Pushes and pulls can have different strengths and directions.
- Pushing or pulling an object can change the speed or direction of its motion and
can start or stop it.
CCC: Cause and Effect
Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas
about causes.
SEP: Planning and Carrying out investigations
With guidance, plan and conduct an investigation in collaboration with peers.
 Misconceptions
1. Students associate force with coercion and muscular strength and fail to
understand different forms of force with pushes or pulls (Keeley, 2019).
2. Students identify force with a push but not with a pull (Keeley, 2019).
3. Students believe that an applied force is necessary for the continuity of motion at
a constant velocity (Eryilmaz, 2002).
4. Students believe that greater mass implies greater force or the most active ones
create the most force (Eryilmaz, 2002).
5. Students believe that shoves, kicks, and throws are not acts of pushing and pulling
(McCormick, 2017).
 Teaching Strategies
1. Keeley (2019) states that a good activity would be giving them a worksheet titled “Talking
About Forces”. In this worksheet there are 5 children engaging in a conversation based on
forces, each child makes a different claim about force and how it is associated with pushes
and pulls.
2. A teacher can create a powerpoint with various images and ask different students whether
its a push and a pull. The teacher will then ask them why they think that is the answer.
Based on the answer that is given, they will go in depth and describe each picture. They will
explain why it is a push, pull or both.
3. A teaching strategy that a teacher can do to clear some of the misconceptions associated
with pushes and pulls is going on a “Push and Pull Walk”. In this activity students would be
asked to walk outside on the school campus, especially different playgrounds. Here students
will observe the different types of pushes and pulls that occur in the environment and
everyday setting.
 Reflections
● Jennifer: Our lesson went according to plan.I was surprised to see how bright all of the students were, and
their engagement in our lesson made it easier for us as instructors to follow our schedule in a timely manner.If
there was anything that I could change in our lesson it would be by applying more complex terms in the
lesson, in regard to the concept. The children were very bright, and easily followed along and understood what
was being taught. I would have defined stability and motion, and would have included images in the
assessment that were harder to determine whether they were pushes and pulls.Overall, I had a very fun time
presenting the lesson to the students. I was glad to see how engaged and how much fun they had as well. I
think that this was an extremely beneficial experience for me as a future teacher. I was able to see for myself
how it felt and was to teach a lesson to actual students. I learned of the process that is required for all teachers
to undergo when creating a lesson.
● Juana: Our lesson plan went great. The students were extremely smart and made this a great experience. The
students were very engaged throughout the whole presentation. The teacher was also very good to us making
us comfortable and giving us feedback at the end of our presentation. If there was anything I could change
from my lesson, it would be to maybe ask the question “what is a push, and what is a pull” more frequent. My
other teaching classes say that the younger the students, the more you want to repeat what you want them to
learn. Also, since the students were very bright, maybe add more vocabulary to the powerpoint. Overall, I had
a great time presenting this lesson to the kids, and also loved being exposed to this time of atmosphere. As
mentioned above, I’ve done lesson plans for math and other subjects but never science. It was a good
experience, and would recommend this to future teachers.
 References
Eryilmaz, A. (2002). Effects of conceptual assignments and conceptual change discussions on
students' misconceptions and achievement regarding force and motion. Journal of Research
in Science Teaching, 39(10), 1001-1015.
Keeley, P. (2011). Formative Assessment Probes: Pushes and Pulls. Science and Children, 49(2),
28-30. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/44709841
McCormick, M. (2017). Kristel Pushes and Pulls. Retrieved from
https://common.nsta.org/resource/?id=10.2505/9781681406459.
NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Retrieved
from http://www.nextgenscience.org/