NASA
Heavy Lifting
Accept NASA's challenge to design heavy lifting vehicles. Groups of three design balloon-powered rockets to carry as much payload to the ceiling as possible. The teams are encouraged to launch several times while making...
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...
Curated OER
We Have Work to Do!
An excellent lesson awaits your young scientists! In it, learners are invited to explore the world of pulleys, levers, and planes; simple machines that make lifting heavy things much, much easier. They watch video, and engage in hands-on...
Curated OER
Kite building activity
Learners explore how a kite flies; this lesson is a precursor for the windmill activity. By exploring how a kite flies, the students explore the power of the wind; particulary how drag, lifft and gravity enable objects such as kites and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines IV - Levers
The principles of levers and simple machines are presented here. An easy-to-make lever is constructed by each group of scientists, and they use it to explore how this simple machine makes heavy things so much easier to lift and move. A...
National Park Service
Weather Patterns of the Pacific Ocean
How do oceans affect weather patterns? Learners define vocabulary associated with dew point, topographical lifting, condensation, and formation of clouds and precipitation as they explore the weather in the Pacific Northwest. They also...
Curated OER
Secrets of Lost Empires I
Students investigate how levers can be used to lift objects. They participate in hands-on activities to explore the distance a load is lifted when comparing the amount the lever arm was pushed down. Students discover the how placement...
Curated OER
Applied Science - Technology (1B) Pre Lab
First graders explore simple machines. In this technology instructional activity, 1st graders review pulleys, levers, wedges, and ramps. They experiment with lifting items with and without these simple machines.
Curated OER
Volume and Mass: Identify the Attribute
Students rotate through five studying stations related to the attributes of volume and mass. They manipulate objects to explore mass, compare two masses by pushing and lifting, pack materials and fill containers, and pour liquids from...
Curated OER
The Way Levers Work
Fifth graders discover the rules by which the lever slants and balances. They determine that there are a great many tools that employ the lever principle even in their ordinary environments. They consider how to use objects easily...
Curated OER
Wheels and Axles 1
Students investigate how and why wheels are used in different types of machines. They work in teams trying to move a heavy box with and without dowels and discuss which way is easier to move the box. Next, they conduct an experiment...
Curated OER
Ar.... What Gives?
Young scholars investigate the properties of air through inflated objects. In this physical science lesson, students examine gas as a state of matter. Student push on inflated objects and note the space the gas has taken up inside. Young...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Levers - Weight Lifters
Students investigate how levers help to lift heavy loads. They view and discuss examples of levers, explore various websites, experiment with the levers brought to the class, and watch the video for the book "Mike Mulligan and His Steam...
Curated OER
Simple Machines - Inclined Plane, Lever
Students brainstorm ways of using an inclined plane or lever and demonstrate using materials such as a board, fulcrum, etc. They divide into two groups and figure out to lift a crate using materials for a simple machine. Once they...
Curated OER
Weight Lifter - An Air Pressure Experiment
First graders participate in a study of air pressure in which the investigate if air has the strength to lift heavy objects. They work in teams to develop a hypothesis about whether air in bags would be able to lift a stack of books....
Curated OER
Investigating Pulleys
Young scholars investigate pulleys and see how they have a mechanical advantage in lifting heavy loads. In this pulley lesson students make a hypothesis, complete and experiment then complete a worksheet.
Curated OER
Steep, Steeper, and Steepest
Fifth graders discuss ways to move large rocks. They relate this to building a rock garden, and the ways people might load boulders into a truck. Students discuss the use of a ramp vs. lifting the boulder straight up onto the bed of the...
Curated OER
We Have Work To Do - Science
Students begin to think of ways to make work easier. They will focus on ways to extend their abilities to lift heavy things. They will identify levers, pulleys, and inclined planes through the examination of concrete objects and hands on...
Curated OER
Block and Tackle
Students simulate block and tackles to lift heavy objects. They lift cargo by hand with the whip and the two-fold purchase to simujlate what crew members do aboard ships. They measure the effort and distance pulled for a gun tackle, luff...
Curated OER
TRB 3:4 - Investigation 2 - Jump
Third graders jump with and without weights to reveal data that gravity has more of a pulling force with heavy objects that are on the ground than light objects on the ground. They also identify how their legs felt when they jumped with...
Curated OER
Work Made Easy
Second graders maneuver placement of the fulcrum on the lever to see how to lift weight most easily. They role-play as archaeologists with the task of lifting a heavy rock from the dig site. They write in science journals about what...
Curated OER
Tens! Hundreds! Thousands!!! of Tons
Fifth graders take a close look at the types of ships that travel through the Hudson River Valley on the Hudson River. They utilize worksheets embedded in the plan in order to answer questions about exactly what is being shipped, and how...
Curated OER
Add and Subtract with Hudson River shipping
Rivers aren't just a place for animals to live, they also provide industrial transportation. The class will examine the Hudson River on a map, discuss all the commercial vessels that use the River to transport materials, then complete a...