ABSTRACT
EINSTEIN, GALILEO AND NEWTON would probably feature in most people’s ‘top ten’ scientists.They all made their name, in part, by offering explanations of how and why things move as they do; what we might call ‘mechanics’, or the primary curriculum topic of forces.This can be a difficult area of science to teach for two reasons.The first is that forces seem a bit abstract – we cannot see, hear, smell or touch them.The second is that some ideas associated with forces can be tricky because they seem not to fit with ‘common sense’; teachers may be concerned about their own knowledge and understanding.This chapter alerts you to some of these counter-intuitive bits of science and discusses the importance of contexts in making forces interesting and understandable. These contexts include water-play, toys and PE. It goes on to show how children can develop an understanding of forces appropriate to various stages of primary schooling through explorations and investigations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how whole-class interactive (and dialogic) teaching can support children’s learning in this area.
