Curated OER
Simple Machines
Students investigate what simple machines are and how they work. In this simple machine lesson, the students create simple and compound machines and test each machine's ability to perform a task. Students compare simple machines to...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Ninth graders are shown a constructed machine and they asked what it is and what it does? They are questioned on type of simple machine constructed. Students are questioned on various parts of machine. They work in groups to design...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Students demonstrate an understanding of how simple machines work. They show how various forces affect movement and advantages of them. They also design a compund machine. Students decide which level of questions they want to do and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines, Odd Machine
Students explore six simple machines and locate them operating in a compound machine. The simple machines are identified at a variety of stations set up in the classroom and continued by identifying the machines in their homes.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Magician's Catapult
In this activity, students reinforce their understanding of compound machines by building a catapult. This compound machine consists of a lever and a wheel-and-axel. Catapults have been designed by engineers for a variety of purposes -...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Not So Simple
Students expand upon their understanding of simple machines with an introduction to compound machines. A compound machine - a combination of two or more simple machines - can affect work more than its individual components. Engineers who...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Design and Build a Rube Goldberg
In this two-part activity, students design and build a Rube Goldberg machine. The open ended problem uses the engineering design process and can have a preset purpose, such as rolling a marble into a cup from a distance, or can be left...
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...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Simple Machines
Through a five-lesson series with five hands-on activities, students are introduced to six simple machines - inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever, pulley, wheel-and-axle - as well as compound machines, which are combinations of two or...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Physical Science: Compound Machine
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Provides a definition of a compound machine with examples and discusses the efficiency and mechanical advantage of compound machines.
Museum of Science
The Museum of Science: Sketch Gadget Anatomy
The Museum of Science provides this site that shows the activity in which students sketch all the elements of a compound machine describing each component's function. Also includes an extension activity for homework.
Museum of Science
The Museum of Science: Classroom Activity Be Inventive!
Student activity that requires the design, construction, and testing of a compound machine to solve a problem in their environment.
Museum of Science
The Museum of Science: Gadget Anatomy
This site from The Museum of Science presents some compound machines and asks students to identify which simple machines they are composed of. Students provide their answer and receive immediate feedback.
Museum of Science
Museum of Science: Inventor's Toolbox: The Elements of Machines
Simple machines that were all in common use for centuries before Leonardo da Vinci's time, followed by devices that combine these in various ways.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Six Simple Machines: How They Combine to Form Complex Machines
For this activity, young scholars predict which simple machines might be inside a small household appliance. They then take it apart to investigate, and record what they discover. In the process, they learn how simple machines are...