This document provides information about a lesson on Newton's First Law of Motion and balanced/unbalanced forces for students ages 6-12. The lesson objectives are for students to remember previous knowledge of forces, differentiate between types of forces, understand the concept of force, know and apply Newton's First Law, and give examples of balanced and unbalanced forces. Key points from Newton's First Law are defined, and a class activity is described to illustrate balanced and unbalanced forces using diagrams of forces on a ball. A pre-assessment and explanations of answers are also provided.

1. LESSSON TITLE: NEWTON’S FIRST LAW OF MOTION,
BALANCED&UNBALANCED FORCES
SUBJECT: FORCE
TARGET GROUP: (AGES 6-12YRS.)
Kids-Net Workshop
Electronic learning environments & E-learning design

2. Target group
Elementary
Science oriented
6 – 12 yrs.

3. Learning objectives
Students remember previous knowledge (scafolding)
At the end of the lesson students will be able to differenciate
types of forces
Students will understand the concept of force
Know and be able to apply the Newton’s first law of motion
Be able to give examples of balanced and unbalanced forces

4. SAE INTERNATIONALSAE INTERNATIONAL www.awim.org
The Engineering Design Experience

5. The Aeroplane

6. Pre-assessment
1) A stationary object has no forces acting on it.
 True or False
2) A stationary object has net or balanced forces acting on it.
 True or False
Feedback
When you push on a stationary object, you are applying a force. Despite this, you still
might not be able to accelerate it. That is because there might be another force that nets
against yours.
For example, you push on a beached whale. The reason why you can't accelerate it is
because the force of friction between the whale and the sand perfectly nets against (same
magnitude, opposite direction) the force you are applying.
For another example, you're presumably not plummeting to the center of the Earth right
now despite the fact that Earth's gravity is pulling on you. This is because your chair is
exerting a normal force in the opposite direction (radially outwards from the center of
Earth) that perfectly offsets the force of gravity.
This statement would have been true for question one, if it said
“balance forces", not just "forces".

7. Scaffold
Last lesson, we defined force as any interaction which
tends to change the motion of an object
Forces are also described as a push or pull on an object.
They can be due to phenomena such as gravity,
magnetism, or anything that might cause a mass to
accelerate.
Students give example of cases where force is in action.

8. Assessments
At the end of the lesson ‘true or false’ questions will
be made available to test students’ understanding of
the topic
Students are also required to give situation or
instances where Newton’s first law of motion is in
action

9. Definition
 Newton’s first law of motion states that:
Everybody or an object persists in its state of
being at rest or of moving uniformly straight
forward, except insofar as it is compelled to
change its state by force impressed
Or
An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an
object in motion remains in motion unless acted
on by an unbalanced force or a net force
The Newton’s first law of motion is also called
the law of inertia

10. Illustration

11. Balanced and unbalanced forces
(Class activity)
10N
25N
10N 10N

12. Balanced and unbalanced forces
Which of the following is/are correct?
(a)An object in motion will slow down unless it is acted on
by an unbalanced force in the direction of motion
(b)An object in motion will maintain its speed and direction
forever unless acted on by an unbalanced force
(c)An object at rest will stay at rest unless acted on by an
unbalanced force
(d)An object acted on by an unbalanced force will always
accelerate in the direction of the of the unbalanced force

13. Explanation of balanced and unbalanced force
The diagram above is a ball with forces
from four different dimensions acting on it.
If for example all the forces are balanced,
all of 5 Newton (5N) each, then the ball will
remain at rest.
But in a case where the forces from certain
direction are greater than the ones from
the other direction, for example if the
Newton of the forces varies, some are 5N
and others are 15N; the body becomes
unstable and moves in the direction of the
greater force, either down, up, side,
etcetera. The same is true for children
playing on a swing.

14. Next lesson
Next class, we shall learn about Newton’s second law of motion.
Watch the following videos:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/forc
es-newtons-laws/newtons-laws-of-
motion/v/newton-s-1st-law-of-motion
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/forc
es-newtons-laws/newtons-laws-of-
motion/v/newton-s-second-law-of-motion

15. Appreciation
Thank you