Curated OER
Levers and Pulleys
Seventeen pages of material leave you well-prepared to carry out this lesson on levers and pulleys. Photos and diagrams make the instructions clear; resource links provide additional information. The missing aspects of this teacher's...
Curated OER
Experiments with Levers
Students investigate levers. For this simple machine lesson, students study levers and the mechanical advantage of using levers. They will collect data and illustrate their systems for eight different tests.
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Positioning the fulcrum in class one levers
Students explore the relationship between force and the distance of the load from the fulcrum. In this experimental lesson students get into groups and make a lever and record the force that is needed to move it, they then try this...
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Is a Pulley a Special Kind of Lever?
Fifth graders use information from their text to read and discuss pulleys and levers. They examine a top sketch of the arrangement of a fixed pulley. Working in groups, 5th graders perform experiments to test the effect of using a pulley...
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Lifting a Load
Students experiments with levers to determine if the amount of force needed to lift a load is always the same. In this physics lesson, students use Lab-Pro data collector as they experiment with the fulcrum placement to measure the work...
Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion,...
Norwich Institute for Language Education
Simple Machines
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.
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Eighth graders work together in groups to introduce themselves to the six types of simple machines. They are to record what the machine does, its mechanical advantage and identify real world situations in which they are used. They...
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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.
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...
Curated OER
Mystery Machines
Students explore simple machines and demonstrate thier acquired understanding by building a simple machine.
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The Physics of Tools
Young scholars investigate the nature and work of simple tools and mechanics.
They explain how each simple machine can be used in real world applications. They explore levers, balance beams, windlasses, wedges, gears, ocarinas,...
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Analysis of Lobster Claw Function. An Exercise in Biomechanics
Students observe two chelae. They write three differences they observe in their notebooks. Students suggest a hypothesis which would explain these differences. They dissect the chela. Students analyze the lobster claw as a mechanical lever.
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Rat Round Up
Students build a device that captures and carries a pet rat safely back to its cage with out "harming" the rat or themselves. They build and experiment with wind-up or battery operated rat cat toys after predicting the outcome of their...
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Pooper Scooper
Science Learners build a pooper scooper tool that helps them clean up after a dog without getting their hands dirty or their noses too close. They research the diseases that can be transported through animal waste and work in teams to...
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Pet Rescue
Students, in teams, follow the process of design, including the stages of investigation, creation, and reflection, as they devise a way to help "save" a (simulated) pet who is trapped in a pipe.
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Design Challenge: Cup in the Cupboard
Students design device that will place a cup into a cupboard for a physically challenged person. They study the engineering design and how structure relates to function.
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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.
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Scientific Measurement Exercise
Students measure irregularly shaped bones, once using a variety of measurement methods and tools, and then again using standard conventions and metric tape measures. They explore firsthand that standardizing data collection makes...
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Challenger's Lost Lessons - The Lost Simple Machines Lesson
Students investigate the characteristics of simple machines. In this simple machine instructional activity, students investigate work as a product of applying constant force. They answer questions about what happens on Earth and what may...