Year 10 Physics: Forces and Motion

Kaiako Planning Snapshot

Ngā Whāinga Akoranga — Learning Intentions

• Identify the forces acting on an object and represent them as a free-body diagram.
• Find the net force on an object and predict whether it speeds up, slows down or stays put.
• Calculate speed, distance and time, and read both distance–time and speed–time graphs for what they say about motion.
• Distinguish mass from weight and calculate weight using F_g = m g.
• Explain friction, drag and terminal velocity, and why a falling object stops accelerating.
• Calculate pressure as force over area, and work, energy and power in practical contexts.

Paearu Angitu — Success Criteria

• I can draw a free-body diagram and say whether the forces on it are balanced.
• I can calculate a net force and state what it will do to the motion.
• I can read a speed–time graph for acceleration and for distance travelled, and say why a flat line means something different on each graph.
• I can use v = d/t, F_g = m g, P = F/A and W = F d, and explain what each answer means in the situation.
• I can explain terminal velocity using drag, and predict what changes it.

Teacher Planning Snapshot

• Year level: Year 10 | Duration: 10 lessons | NZC Level 5 / Science 5 Physical World
• Curriculum alignment: Te Mātaiaho Science — Physical World; students investigate balanced and unbalanced forces, gather and interpret motion data, and use models such as F_g = mg, P = F/A and W = Fd to explain outcomes from practical work. Links naturally to Technology through design testing. Aotearoa contexts — waka, Rocket Lab, high-performance sailing — are available as resources below and in the companion unit, but this unit’s ten lessons do not currently teach them.
• Mātauranga Māori: Not yet delivered in these ten lessons, and stated plainly rather than implied. Waka navigation, maramataka-informed voyaging and reading wind, swell and current are sophisticated applied physics, and they belong in a forces unit — but this unit’s lessons do not currently teach them. The companion unit Year 10 Science: Forces and Motion does, through Newton’s Laws, patu impulse and a Waka Design Challenge. Use it if that is the arc you want; do not tell your class this unit covers it. Tikanga shapes how traditional knowledge and taonga technologies are discussed, and kaitiakitanga keeps engineering conversations connected to safe, responsible use of moana environments.
• Entry support: Start each law with a concrete demo before equations: tablecloth pull, trolley push, or balloon rocket. Give students a force-diagram scaffold, a bilingual vocabulary card, and partially completed data tables so attention can stay on the physics idea rather than copying text.
• On-level: Most students work through the ten-lesson sequence with paired practicals, PhET simulations, and short calculation sets after each investigation. Use whole-class graphing and worked examples before independent explanation writing.
• Extension: Students design a fair-test investigation into surface area and drag — paper shapes, a dropped object with and without a parachute, or balloon-rocket mass — then present a justified recommendation using their own measurements, a data display, and an explanation of which variable they controlled and why.

Inclusion and Accessibility

• ESOL / ELL: Pre-teach force, mass, weight, speed, friction and pressure with visual icons, sentence frames, and te reo Māori / English key terms. Let students explain a diagram orally with a partner before writing full physics paragraphs.
• Accessibility: Provide digital simulation alternatives when launching, pushing, or measuring in physical space is a barrier. Lab sheets should use large-print tables, colour-safe graphs, and clear step numbers so students can follow practical sequences safely.
• Neurodiverse learners: Keep each investigation on a predictable routine: predict, test, record, discuss, calculate. Offer calculator check-ins, chunk multi-step problems, and assign practical roles so students with ADHD or processing-load needs can participate without losing the thread of the lesson.