PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Share the Day's Discoveries
Share and discuss ideas the students have about ramps and rolling objects.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Share the Day's Discoveries
Discuss classroom explorations and discoveries about ramps.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Explore and Play: Toy Sleds
Students experiment with different materials and objects to make a sled that will slide down the ramps.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Simple Machines (Grades 1 To12)
In this lesson plan students start by trying to open a paint can with their bare hands. Eventually, they will use a lever to open it. Various activities are used to enforce different simple machines.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Splash, Pop, Fizz: Rube Goldberg Machines
Refreshed with an understanding of the six simple machines; screw, wedge, pully, incline plane, wheel and axle, and lever, student groups receive materials and an allotted amount of time to act as mechanical engineers to design and...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Things to Do at Home
Families can come together through games designed to make history something fun and integral to family life. Build a sod house like prairie settlers did in the 1800s. Go back in time to visit five families that lived in the same house...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Energy of Motion
By taking a look at the energy of motion all around us, students learn about the types of energy and their characteristics. They first learn about the two simplest forms of mechanical energy: kinetic and potential energy, as illustrated...
Government of Alberta
Learn Alberta: Math Interactives: Exploring Square Roots Video
This video illustrates the concepts of square roots, slope, and the Pythagorean Theorem as they are used in designing and constructing skate park rails, ramps, and pipes. An interactive activity is also included where students are able...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Modern Day Pyramids
Students investigate the ways in which ancient technologies - six types of simple machines and combinations - are used to construct modern buildings. As they work together to solve a design problem (designing and building a modern...
Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom: 1 Dimensional Kinematics
An activity in which average speed is calculated for a ball sliding along an inclined plane. This speed is compared to various instantaneous speeds along the incline.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Potential Energy: How Is It Related to Kinetic Energy
After creating three different ramps with various heights, students will release toy cars from the tops of each ramp. Based on the elementary age level, students will collect data and analyze it.
The Franklin Institute
[Archived Content] the Franklin Institute: The Screw Demonstration
This is an activity demonstrating that the screw is an inlined plane.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Lab Activity, Rotational Inertia
A lab activity in which students observe the rolling of objects along an inclined plane. The the rotational inertia of the objects are compared based upon their acceleration along the incline. Directions and assessment ideas are given.
Other
Odyssey of the Mind: Up to Speed
Students "learn about vehicles, velocity, angles, and energy," as they participate in a variety of creative and hands-on activities, like building adjustable ramps, researching modes of transportation, and predicting "what transportation...
NASA
Nasa: Simple Machines
A lesson plan site that contains activities designed to give grades 3 and 4 experiences in using simple machines.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Roll or Slide?
A classroom activity where students discover whether an object rolls, slides, or stays put.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Curious George: Ramp N Roll Experiment
Identify simple principles of physical science and engineering by exploring ramps and things that roll. Predict which items will slide or roll down a ramp and test your predictions.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Simple Machines
Good combination of teacher demonstration and student interaction for this simple machine lesson. Great for talking about force and work. Plans are for grades 2-4, yet are adaptable.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Down the Slide
Take the students out to the playground so they can explore things that go down the slide.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Steep and Steeper
Students explore what happens to a rolling object when the steepness of the ramp is increased.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Read and Discuss: Ten on the Sled
Discussion and integrations ideas for the read aloud book, Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman.
PBS
Wgbh: Peep and the Big Wide World: Explore and Play: Snowy Hills
Students make two snowy hills, one steep and one gentle, to discover their effects on rolling objects.