Students learn that some forces need touch (like friction) while others act across empty space through fields (like gravity and magnetism) — and how to tell the two kinds apart.
Students will be able to…
A magnet pulls a paperclip without touching it, and gravity holds the Moon 240,000 miles away. How can a force act without any contact at all?
Project this and sort each force by whether it needs touching (contact) or acts across a distance (non-contact). Tap one, then tap the bucket.
Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.
A magnet pulls metal without touching — how?
Students investigate.
Teacher explains.
Apply.
Three quick checks.
Aligned to Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core literacy. State-standard crosswalks available on request.
Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
Construct and present arguments using evidence to support that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on mass.
Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that fields exist between objects not in contact.
Integrate visual information with text in a model.
Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.
Have students sprinkle iron filings around a magnet to reveal the invisible magnetic field, then sketch the field lines. A printable field-mapping sheet is in the Science library.
Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.
A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.
A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.