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,...
Teach Engineering
The Advantage of Machines
Show your learners how to make their work easier. The first lesson 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...
Teach Engineering
Just Plane Simple
It is plane to see that simple machines help reduce the force needed to perform a task. This resource introduces three of the simple machines--the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw, and the formulas in order to be able...
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...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Simple Machines
Students watch a video and play a game. In this simple machines instructional activity, students watch a video on simple machines. They play an interactive game on the Edheads web site and share what they have learned. Throughout the day...
Curated OER
Simple Machines, Odd Machines
Students recognize and identify common objects that can be used as a lever. In this simple machines instructional activity, students experiment with materials to design and construct a machine that uses a lever. Students also design and...
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
Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies
Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and...
Curated OER
An Introduction to Simple Machines
Young scholars investigate simple machines and their uses in everyday life. In this scientific method lesson, students examine physical tools such as wedges, screws, and levers using a "how does it work" approach. Young...
Curated OER
Summer Machines Activity: How Can We Move This Box of Blocks?
Students discover there's more than one way to move a heavy load. In this problem solving lesson, students use observation and problem-solving skills as they experiment with simple machines in order to transport loads.
Curated OER
Challenger's Lost Lessons - The Lost Simple Machines Lesson
Students investigate the characteristics of simple machines. In this simple machine activity, students investigate work as a product of applying constant force. They answer questions about what happens on Earth and what may have happened...
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...
Curated OER
How Machines Help Us Stay Healthy
Learners visit different departments at a local hospital to see how machines help peoples such as the CAT scan machine. They build a model of such a machine that shows how patients are moved in and out of the machine.
Kenan Fellows
The Newton Challenge
Make Newton proud. Scholars apply their understanding of forces and energy to an engineering design challenge. They learn about simple machines, create a presentation on Newton's laws, and develop a balloon-powered car.
Curated OER
The Gear Game
Students discuss that the conservatin of energy states that the energy imput must equal the energy output. They then figure out how can a machine help you to perform task otherwise considered impossible? Students discuss the six simple...
Curated OER
Power: Work and Energy
Students explore how work and energy create power. They complete activities involving simple machines, energy, energy conversion, and the role of conductors and insulators. They choose from a menu of options the activities they would...
Curated OER
Can You Bear It? Pulleys, Gears, Forces, Structures and Mechanisms
Students review the types of simple machines. As a class, they focus on the positives and negatives of pulleys and gears and identify what pulleys and gears change of an object. They work together to design their own object to support a...
Curated OER
Interactivate: Introduction to Functions
This interactive website provides a variety of lesson plans according to which standards you are applying and which textbook you use. Introduce functions to your class by having them construct single operation machines and create...
Curated OER
Changes in Force, Motion, and Energy
Eighth graders construct various machines and compare the work done by them.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Physics at the Art Museum: Kinetic Energy, Potential Energy, and Work
Connect science, math, and art for a true interdisciplinary lesson! Learners explore simple machines in art. Through analysis with a physics app, they identify positions of kinetic and potential energy and make conclusions about work.
Curated OER
Simple Machines, Odd Machine
Students examine levers and design a machine that uses a lever as a central component. In this lever machine lesson students test various machine designs and evaluate their effectiveness.
Curated OER
Gears and Proportions
Students explore gears. In this simple machines and ratio activity, students view a video clip in which front and rear bicycle gears are explained. From a set of gear combinations and gear ratios, students identify high and low...
Curated OER
Move It!
Third graders examine simple machines. For this simple machines lesson, 3rd graders observe simple machines at work in a video, then experiment with creating their own simple machines to move objects.