Bonneville
The Great Marble Drop
Mike and Kellie, a team of electrical engineers, demonstrate how to to design a contraption that accurately drops a marble onto a target. The materials needed and general instructions are provided on the website or via a downloadable...
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
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
Simple Machines
Students examine six simple machines and investigate who Rube Goldberg is. They explore various websites, write an article, write ten interesting facts about Rube Goldberg, and design and construct a simple machine.
Curated OER
Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Students participate in a culminating activity for a unit on Energy and Simple Machines. They are challenged to incorporate simple machines in to a complex mechanical system. While designing and testing their machine they will also...
Curated OER
Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Students design and construct a Rube Goldberg machine that accomplishes a simple task in at least ten steps. They view and discuss various Rube Goldberg designs, identify types of simple machines, and in small groups produce a schematic...
Curated OER
My Crazy Contraption
Fourth graders design a contraption, which contains five different examples of simple machines and works without intervention. They sketch designs and label its parts. They present their creations to the class and relate them to Rube...
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The Art of Simple Machines
Young scholars investigate the inventions of simple machines in our past and how they affect us today. In this engineering lesson, students discover who Rube Goldberg was and his ideas about complicated machines performing very simple...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Young scholars explore the functions of simple machines. In this simple machines lesson plan, students evaluate the uses of simple machines as they dissect a machine and then design their own.
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Physics Internet Scavenger Hunt
In this physics worksheet, students visit the site http://sciencespot.net and complete a scavenger hunt for a variety of physics topics.
Curated OER
Who is Rube Goldberg?
Fifth graders practice technology skills while searching online for information about inventor, Rube Goldberg. They discuss Rube Goldberg's use of simple machines, and write journal entries about their findings.
Curated OER
Rube Goldberg Project
Students apply inquiry and problem solving approaches in science. They design a device (invention) that solves a special problem.
Curated OER
Mystery Photo!
Students examine an original engraving of a piece of equipment called, The Grasshopper Catcher. They describe how technologies developed in Iowa during the Industrial Revolution influenced farming practices, and develop hypotheses about...