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...

Planning a unit on simple machines? Save some time and energy with this collection of lessons and activities that explores how these devices are used in the real world to make life a little easier. 

Trying to plan a physical science unit on forces and motion? Make your work a little easier with this comprehensive collection of simple machines resources. Offering a wide variety worksheets, activities, and projects, these materials...

Your introductory physical science class will be energized by this PowerPoint. They will be able to define energy, work, and power. They will be able to perform calculations for kinetic and potential energy. They will be able to describe...

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,...

The principles of levers and simple machines are presented here. An easy-to-make lever is constructed by each group of scientists, and they use it to explore how this simple machine makes heavy things so much easier to lift and move. A...

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...

Picture books provide great learning opportunities for STEM. A curriculum resource document gives several lessons in each grade level for K-6. The activities have learners read a book before applying the engineering design process to...

Motion is the focus of ten hands-on activities that challenge scholars to build machines invented by Leonardo da Vinci. Following several steps, small groups work collaboratively to recreate machines including levers, pulleys, wheels,...

Who says playing around in class is a bad idea? Precocious physicists engage in building mechanisms that include cams, gears, pulleys, and levers using an interactive lesson. After completing toy tutorials about each topic, users build a...

Reach out and grab something. Given the task of picking up objects at least two feet away, pupils design and build a grabber. The last activity in a series of five challenges requires learners to use information about fulcrums and levers.

Studying levers couldn't be more exciting! Learners build their own catapults and test the results as they make adjustments to the fulcrum. They compete against other groups to create the most accurate apparatus.

Ready, aim, fire! Launch to a new level of understanding as scholars build and test their own catapults. Learners explore lever design and how adjusting the fulcrum changes the outcome. 

Can a mother who weighs five times more than her child really be held in the air on a see saw by the child? A simple simulation demonstrates how this is possible through altering the distance from the fulcrum. Scholars can adjust the...

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.

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...

Here's a resource ideal for independent learners who need extra reinforcement or would like to work ahead. These textbook chapters and practice problems cover many basic physics concepts, starting with potential and kinetic energy and...

Teach young engineers that all machines, no matter how complicated or complex, are made up of just six simple devices with this hands-on physical science lesson. Using the included templates, students first create paper models of...

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...

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...

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...

Get the ball rolling with this upper-elementary science unit on forces and motion. Offering over three weeks of physical science lessons, this resource is a great way to engage the class in learning about simple machines, friction, the...

Exactly what did Archimedes mean when he said, "Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth"? Watch this video and find out as it explains the mathematics behind levers, and explores a few fun hypothetical situations involving...