Curated OER
Motion Commotion!
Students explore the drawings of Rube Goldberg to design and construct a simple machine. They discuss simple machines, and using various materials and toy parts, design and construct a "Rube Goldberg" style machine to ring a bell.
Curated OER
Can a Mouse Lift an Elephant?
Read Just a Little Bit, by Ann Tompert as an introduction to levers. Discuss playground seesaws and then turn learners loose to experiment with the placement of a fulcrum. Their goal is to determine where to place it in order to lift ten...
Curated OER
Creating My Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Students dissect simple machines. In this simple machines lesson, students gather simple machines from their home to dissect in class. Students investigate the working parts of simple machines and construct a machine based on the designs...
Curated OER
Simple Machines IV - Wheels and Axles
Youngsters are introduced to the basic principles and uses of the wheel and the axle. They come up with every day examples of simple machines and look into why the wheel and the axle are best-used as a paired machine instead of used...
Curated OER
Gadget Anatomy
Sure to be a hit with your charges, here is a science lesson plan that has lots of hands-on activities packed into it. The focus is simple machines, and how they help us perform work. After a discussion and demonstration session, groups...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Here is an inventive plan that should get your young scientists excited! In it, groups of pupils test out the work done by six different simple machines. The machines are: the wedge, the lever, the inclined plane, the pulley, the screw,...
Curated OER
Simple Machines III - Pulleys
The principles behind pulleys, levers, and simple machines are the focus of a science lesson. In it, learners take part in a whole-class activity. There are two groups of pupils who each must lift objects with fixed pulleys and multiple...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Have your class conduct research to learn all they can about simple machines. They use the web, take notes from a video, write a script, then make a film describing various simple machines found in real life. These videos are then...
Curated OER
A Leprechaun Trap
Create leprechaun traps using various materials and modeling traps using simple machines. Middle schoolers will build their trap and demonstrate it in front of their classmates. Additionally. they can create a commercial advertising...
Chandler Unified School District
Art Masterpiece—Leonardo da Vinci Inventions
After getting to know the inventor, Leonardo da Vinci and his many inventions, scholars think up their own invention. Following a written description and a hand-drawn picture, learners use a method of mirror writing and antiquing to give...
Teach Engineering
Rube Goldberg and the Meaning of Machines
A Rube Goldberg machine does not really look like it would make work easier. Introduce your class to Rube Goldberg with a resource that shows how his inventions make simple tasks harder to complete.
Teach Engineering
Not So Simple
Compound machines, nothing more than a combination of simple machines working together, are the focus of an activity that asks class members to use the provided information to take a look at the way innovators combine simple machines to...
Teach Engineering
Levers that Lift
Introduce your class to to the remaining three simple machines-- the lever, pulley, and the wheel-and-axle with a plan that includes the three different types of levers in the discussion of levers. The lesson continues with the...
Teach Engineering
The Advantage of Machines
Show your students how to make their work easier. The first lesson plan 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...
Mr. E. Science
Work and Machines
What would you be if you were attached to another object by an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis? In this fourth presentation that covers work and simple machines, young physicists look at Newtons and Joules as well as...
Curated OER
Science Review for Grade 3 (3.5)
In this science review for grade 3 (3.5) worksheet, 3rd graders answer 25 multiple choice questions in standardized test format about fossils, simple machines and heat transfer.
Curated OER
Flowing From Here to There
Sixth graders discover how humans modify their environment. They work together to design their own simple machine to transport materials. They record observations and suggest modifications.
Curated OER
Tree House Escape!
Middle schoolers participate in a role play in which they use simple machines to do the work of retrieving their sibling from a tree which lost its ladder. They investigate how work is accomplished when an object moves in the direction...
Curated OER
Identify and use Simple Machines
Students are exposed to simple machines and their uses. In this everyday tools lesson, students watch a demonstration on how a lever, pulley, ramp, and wheel works. Students are given the opportunity to use hands-on techniques to explore...
Curated OER
Move it! With Simple Machines
Students know the six simple machines and explain what they do and how they have changed the lives of humans.
Curated OER
Simple Machines Alphabet Activity
In this simple machines learning exercise, students put the names of simple machines in alphabetical order. Students put 6 names of simple machines in alphabetical order.
Curated OER
Playground Physics
Students research definitions and examples of simple machines. They identify simple machines that are working parts of playground equipment that reflects their personalities and incorporates at least two simple machines. Students are...
Curated OER
Simple Machines Word Search
In this simple machines worksheet, students analyze 10 words in a word bank that pertain to simple machines. Students find these words in a word search puzzle.
Curated OER
Simple Machines Challenge
In this simple machines facts worksheet, students respond to 6 multiple choice questions that require them to exhibit what they know about simple machines.