An Active Physics Lesson on Wheels!

October 4, 2023 is Walk Bike & Roll to School Day?! This is both a chance to help kids and their families get active in their commute to school, and to pressure municipalities to develop cities that are more walkable and cyclist-friendly! 

For today, we thought it would be a great idea to share an activity that you can do with elementary grade kids to talk about physics! This is a great activity for small classes, as a science homeschool activity, or just for parents who want to have more science-inspired fun with their kids! Read on to see this super fun science lesson that is all about learning through play! 

Activity: "Exploring Forces on a Bike Ride"

Objective: To help students understand the basic forces involved in riding a bike: 

1. Pushing

2. Pulling 

3. Gravity

4. Friction

Materials Needed:

1. A Bicycle or scooter

2. Space: Somewhere to ride the bike where learners can move, turn, start, and stop. 

3. Obstacles the kids can move around

4. Whiteboard or chalkboard and markers/chalk, or paper and pens 

5. A drawing of a bike that you can add words onto, whether by writing on or adding sticky notes 

Instructions:

This activity will first get the kids moving without knowing the objectives, then explaining the forces, and getting them to ride their bike again with this in mind. This helps kids to connect to the material more deeply because the lesson will be more interactive. 

Steps: 

1. Without explaining what the objectives are, ask the learner(s) to ride their bike or scooter around for 1-5 minutes, depending on your group size and how long you want the activity to go for, ideally moving around some obstacles. If you yell “STOP” they have to stop their bike until you say “GO” again. This makes sure learners start, turn, and stop. Tell students that they must also yell “TURNING” every time they turn their bike, The reason will come later! 

2. Once time is up, get your learners to gather around you for a collaborative explanation. Here you will explain to the students that there are 4 main forces involved when riding a bike. Without explaining forces yet, you can ask if the learners know which forces are involved. 

3. Here is where you will reveal the 4 forces on your paper or board: Push, Pull, Gravity, Friction. 

4. Now, ask the students which force is involved during each stage. 

• When you start your bike with the pedals you use PUSHING force!

• When you stop the bike with the brakes you use FRICTION force 

• When you turn the handles you use a PULLING force 

• GRAVITY is the force that keeps the bike on the ground, and helps us balance!

5. Once the learners are comfortable with the forces, they can ride their bikes again. This time, tell them that you will yell “FRICTION” to get learners to stop, “PUSHING FORCE” to get them to go again, and tell students that they have to yell “PULLING FORCE” every time they turn. Occasionally you can shout “WHAT KEEPS US ON THE GROUND?” and they can answer with “GRAVITY!” 

6. Let this activity go for as long as you like. At the end you can review the forces on your paper or whiteboard one more time to make sure the ideas sticks!

This is a fun and active lesson that should help elementary students grasp the basic forces at play when riding a bike in a fun and engaging way. So, grab your wheels and your thinking helmets and go have fun with physics!