How can you tell they’ve got it: Drawing Force Diagrams?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Draw a force diagram with labelled arrows showing direction and relative size for at least two forces acting on an object; Use their diagram to explain whether forces are balanced or unbalanced and what will happen to the object; Add a resultant force arrow to a diagram and explain how they calculated it. Or just try it together: If your child is asked to draw a diagram of all the forces acting on a stationary book on a table, can they draw two arrows — one pointing down for gravity and one pointing up from the table — and explain why, if they're balanced, the book doesn't move?

Science Forces & Motion Ages 7–12

Drawing Force Diagrams

Your child can draw forces as labelled arrows, longer for a bigger force. A book on a table has gravity pulling down and the table pushing up. Equal arrows mean it stays put.

In curriculum terms

Draw and interpret force diagrams showing forces as labelled arrows — where the arrow's length represents the force's magnitude and its direction shows which way the force acts; show multiple forces on one object; identify from the diagram whether forces are balanced (equal arrows in opposite directions, no resultant) or unbalanced (arrows of different sizes, producing a resultant); represent the resultant with a single arrow

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Draw a force diagram with labelled arrows showing direction and relative size for at least two forces acting on an object
Use their diagram to explain whether forces are balanced or unbalanced and what will happen to the object
Add a resultant force arrow to a diagram and explain how they calculated it

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

If your child is asked to draw a diagram of all the forces acting on a stationary book on a table, can they draw two arrows — one pointing down for gravity and one pointing up from the table — and explain why, if they're balanced, the book doesn't move?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Nothing on the map comes before this — it’s a starting point.

Drawing Force Diagramsthis skill · ages 7–12

Unlocks

Balanced & Unbalanced Forcesages 8–9Investigating balanced and unbalanced forces requires drawing force diagrams to record and analyse experimental findings

Air Resistance & Frictionages 9–10Identifying and explaining air resistance and friction requires drawing force arrows to show opposing forces

Gravity & Falling Objectsages 9–11Explaining gravity as a downward force requires representing it as a downward arrow in a force diagram

Resultant Forcesages 11–12Forces as vectors with magnitude and direction is the formal underpinning of the force arrow representation

Pushes & Pullsages 5–6Understanding pushes and pulls as forces is supported by the arrow representation of magnitude and direction

Contact & Non-Contact Forcesages 7–8Distinguishing contact and non-contact forces is clarified by drawing force diagrams showing where arrows originate

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 2 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S4U03low confidenceYear 4 · Science understanding

identify how forces can be exerted by one object on another and investigate the effect of frictional, gravitational and magnetic forces on the motion of objects

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2TDE4C01low confidenceDesign and Technologies · Levels 3 and 4 · Technologies Contexts strand

VC2S2U11low confidenceScience · Foundation to Level 2 · Science Understanding strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Contact & Non-Contact Forcesages 7–8 Friction & Surfacesages 7–8 Magnetic Materialsages 7–8 Magnetic Polesages 7–9

All Forces & Motion skills →