Link it! Prior knowledge - Forces - Year 5

When preparing for a lesson on forces for Year 5 students, it's important to activate their prior knowledge to make new concepts more relatable and understandable. Pupils may remember learning about forces back in Year 3, which provides a foundation to build upon. They have also likely encountered forces in their everyday lives, such as feeling the push of the wind on a particularly blustery day or experimenting with a homemade parachute, perhaps dropping it from a height to see how it floats down. Additionally, many children will have experience with bicycles and the concept of gears, which involves forces and mechanics to make pedalling easier or harder depending on the terrain. Observations of cranes at construction sites, effortlessly lifting heavy loads, offer another practical example of forces at work.

Encouraging children to explore these experiences and relate them to the topic of forces can be an engaging way to start the lesson. By recording their prior knowledge in the 'Prior Knowledge' section of the Knowledge Organiser, students can reflect on what they already know about forces and how these invisible yet powerful entities affect movement and the physical world. This reflection not only helps to link new information with different subjects and personal experiences but also serves to deepen their understanding of the concept of a force and its role in the world around them.