This middle school science lesson introduces forces in a clear, student-friendly way that builds understanding without overwhelming learners. Students explore familiar situations—such as pushing objects, sliding, throwing, and falling—to understand how forces cause objects to move, stop, speed up, or change direction. The focus is on cause-and-effect rather than memorization.

Students are introduced to balanced and unbalanced forces, gravity, friction, applied force, normal force, magnetism, and net force at a basic and application level. Using real-world examples and simple force diagrams, students learn to identify forces acting on objects and explain motion in everyday situations like sledding, flying airplanes, and pushing objects.

In Order, the Lesson Covers:

• What Is a Force? (Pushes & Pulls)
• Forces in Everyday Life
• Balanced vs. Unbalanced Forces
• How Forces Change Motion
• Gravity and Its Effects
• Calculating Force of Gravity
• Magnetic Forces and Real-World Uses
• Friction and Types of Friction
• Applied Force
• Normal Force
• Net Force

Real-World Force Examples are included throughout each section

Included in the Lesson Package:

• The teacher version of the presentation
• The student version of the presentation
• 8 videos embedded into the presentation
• An auto-graded Exit Ticket
• Everyday Forces Reading Comprehension Activity
• Student lesson handout

✅ Clear Overview: Forces, motion, gravity, friction, and net force explained in simple, student-friendly language.
✅ Interactive Lesson: Student slides encourage discussion, thinking, and application of concepts.
✅ Conceptual + Real-World Focus: Students connect physics ideas to everyday experiences like pushing, sliding, flying, and falling.
✅ Classroom Ready: Easy-to-use presentation format perfect for whole-class instruction, review, or introduction to forces.

The student version of the presentation contains multiple blanks that need to be filled in throughout the lesson. These blanks are conveniently underlined and bolded on the teacher copy. I have found this to be the most effective means of keeping my students engaged and active without having them write everything out. This also leaves more time for discussion and activities.

This lesson was designed for students in Grade 6, 7, and 8 and uses terminology at an age-appropriate level. If you are looking for a HIGH SCHOOL–LEVEL FORCE INTRODUCTION LESSON, CLICK HERE.

Google and Distance Learning Ready

• This lesson includes both Office and Google formats for ALL resources. The presentation is in PowerPoint and Google Slides while all documents contain Word and Google Doc versions.
• Your resource is perfect for distance learning and integrates seamlessly with Google Classroom as I've included a link that will automatically create a copy of the resources and put them directly into your Google Drive with one click.
• Purchase --> Open --> Click --> Assign to your students

Having both options allows you to use either without worrying about formatting issues as all the work has already been done for you. It safeguards you in case your department or school decides to go Google 100% and allows you as well as your students to access everything no matter where you are or what kind of equipment is being used.

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I also have a range of assignments and lessons/units from other grade levels at my store. Please CLICK HERE to have a look around and don’t forget to follow if you like what you see.