Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg's Simple Normal Humdrum School Day
If you're going to build a machine, you might as well make it interesting and amusing. A set of eight lessons and activities introduces simple machines using Rube Goldberg machines. A culminating project challenges techies to create and...
Purdue University
Simple Machines
What's the best way to use a simple machine to solve a real-world problem? Scholars construct their own simple and complex machines to explore the concepts of work and force. They discuss examples of simple machines they have found in...
Purdue University
Simple Machines – Dog Gone It!
How can people use simple machines to solve real-world STEM problems? Learn about simple machines using a hands-on, project-based learning activity. First, pupils investigate and evaluate simple machines. Then, they receive a task that...
Teach Engineering
The Magician's Catapult
Class members work in pairs to build a catapult to launch a grape a given distance. The catapult project, a compound machine, reinforces pupils' understanding of simple machines.
Teach Engineering
A Simple Solution for the Circus
Class members are challenged to design a device that will move a circus elephant into a train car. Groups brainstorm ideas that use simple machines to load the elephant. They then choose one of their ideas, sketch a plan, and present it...
Teach Engineering
The Advantage of Machines
Show your students how to make their work easier. The first lesson in a series of 10 introduces the class to work and the way simple machines can be make work easier. The simple machines scholars can find in everyday items are inclined...
Cherokee County Schools
Simple Machines Project
The choice is simple: create a PowerPoint presentation, write a book, or invent a compound machine. Whichever project your young scientists choose, they will be engaged in creatively demonstrating their knowledge of simple machines and...
Colorado Unit Writing Project
Simple Machines
Planning an elementary science unit has never been simpler! These twelve lessons guide young scientists through an exploration of simple machines and their many uses in the real world before asking them to apply their learning in the...
Science Companion
Simple Machines Design Project
Make your work as a teacher a little easier with a physical science project on simple machines. After introducing young scientists to these devices and identifying their different uses around the school, this project engages children in...
PBS
Blow the Roof Off!
Blow the minds of young scientists with this collection of inquiry-based investigations. Based on a series of eight videos, these "hands-on, minds-on" science lessons engage young learners in exploring a wide range of topics from making...
Curated OER
Qualitative Examples of Conservation of Mechanical Energy
Instructions for series of six activites, a reading of scientific literature, and a choice of six assessments await you in this physics resource. Well-written plans guide you in guiding your pupils to experiment with levers, pulleys,...
Curated OER
Leprechaun Traps Using Simple Machines
Are you looking for a fun way to incorporate St. Patrick's Day into your science curriculum? Try designing and building leprechaun traps!
Curated OER
Simple/Complex Machines
Students make a simple machine. In this physics lesson, students learn about six types of simple machines and the purpose of each and brainstorm examples of simple and complex machines in the classroom. Students create a simple or...
Curated OER
Build a Space Shuttle
Students explore the concept of space. In this space lesson, students pretend to be aerospace engineers. Students build space ships out of cardboard tubes. Students discuss what aerospace engineers do. Students model their space ships...
Curated OER
Building a Car: Mechanical Engineering
Students use common materials to build a car. In this car building mechanical engineering instructional activity, students build a car using a milk cartoon and plastic wheels. They discuss what mechanical engineers do and what makes a...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Students are introduced to a scenario: a ramshackle house is in need of repair. The roof leaks, the refrigerator is broken, it needs paint, etc. They are explained that in order to repair the home, students must use tools. Students...
Curated OER
Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-The Gadget War
Students read The Gadget War by Betsy Duffey. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding inventors and inventions. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing, social studies, and library connections.
Curated OER
QuickTime Science Project
Fifth graders divide into teams and select a simple science topic to explain and illustrate. They should pick a topic that they can illustrate with a very short (about 15-20 seconds) video clip, or QuickTime movie.
Curated OER
Simple Machine Research
Fifth graders demonstrate the ability to use scientific skills and Processes to describe forces that act upon objects to cause specific changes in motion. They identify and describe a science problem related to forces and simple machines.
Curated OER
Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies
Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Fourth graders choose a simple machine and write about they way they believe it will work. Students experiment, write down procedures used and record observations. They will find a picture of the machine and add it to their report.
Curated OER
Invention
Students create an invention, or simple machine, out of items taken from the recycling bin. Students draw diagrams of their proposed inventions, then create simple machines.
Curated OER
Levers and Pulleys and Gears, Oh My!
Students explore the difference between compound and simple machines in this six lessons of this unit. The purpose and importance of a variety of types of simple machines and the effects of friction are investigated.
Curated OER
Simple Machines - Graphics, Experiments, Animation
Twelfth graders display simple machines through the use of graphics, experiments, and animation. They apply problem solving and design and skills.