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Bike Shop 3-5 / Week 02 / Bike Shop Day
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Week 02 · Pushes and Pulls

Bike Shop Day

Bike Shop Day: The Push Test
// The forces that start, stop and turn a bike
⏱ about 15 min

Bike Shop Day: The Push Test

Rocket sets a toy car on the starting line. His family gathers around.

"Small push first," Raven reminds him. "Then tell me what you notice."

Nova hovers over the floor. "Same toy, same floor, same line," she says. "Only the push changes."

Rocket grins. "This time my test is fair!"

  1. A force is a push or a pull. It has a size and a direction.
  2. A bigger force makes a bigger change in motion.
  3. Balanced forces cancel out and do not change motion.
  4. Unbalanced forces start, stop, speed up, slow down or turn things.
  5. Gravity pulls things toward Earth. Friction slows things down.
  6. A fair test changes only one thing.
◇ THE PUSH TEST
Use a toy car, a ball or a can. Use the same one the whole time.
Mark a starting line on an open floor.
Give a small push. A family member measures how far it rolled.
Measure with a ruler, a tape measure or by counting foot lengths.
Do three small pushes, three medium pushes and three big pushes.
Write every result in the table in your shop notebook.
Safety first
Clear the floor and test away from stairs.
Push gently enough that nothing bumps a person or breaks.
No bikes are pushed in this test. Toys only.
For a grown-up
Let your child decide what counts as small, medium and big.
Ask: what did you notice? Was each try the same?
PushTry 1Try 2Try 3
small
medium
big
PUSH TEST CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
In a fair push test, what should change?
Why do we try each push three times?

Amazing testing! Next week we study friction, the grip that helps a bike go and stop.

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