A force is a push or a pull, and forces are what change the way things move. This unit covers contact and non-contact forces, gravity and the difference between weight and mass, friction, net and balanced forces, measuring forces with spring scales, simple machines, and the electrostatic and gravitational forces that act at a distance, along with magnets and electromagnets. Eleven core lessons cover the Stage 4 dot points, with four extension lessons on Newton's laws and pressure for enrichment.
Work through these in order, with two exceptions worth knowing before you start — the number here is the number on the lesson, and each lesson’s “next” button follows the same sequence. Lesson 11 is the unit synthesis, and it is the last one to do, not the eleventh. It pulls the whole unit together and asks you about electrostatic forces, magnets and electromagnets, which are taught in lessons 12, 14 and 15. Reach it in numerical order and it will test you on three lessons you have not opened yet, so go 10 → 12, 13, 14, 15, and come back to 11 at the end. Lessons 5 to 8 are optional extension. They cover Newton’s three laws and pressure, which sit beyond the Stage 4 Forces dot points, and nothing in them is assessed as part of Year 7 Forces. Skip straight from lesson 4 to lesson 9 and you lose no marks; come back to them whenever you like, because they explain a lot of what the other lessons only describe.