Curated OER
QuickTime Science Project
Fifth graders divide into teams and select a simple science topic to explain and illustrate. They should pick a topic that they can illustrate with a very short (about 15-20 seconds) video clip, or QuickTime movie.
Curated OER
Farming in the 1930's
Students research and conduct experiments with several types of simple machines. They examine levers, pulleys, inclined planes, wheels, axles, wedges and screws and then consider the physics behind "Green Eggs and Ham".
Curated OER
You are Uniquely You
Students compare and contrast simple machines and their functions. In this cross-curriculum science simple machines activity, students observe examples and read about simple machines, then use body movement to demonstrate how machines...
Curated OER
Brown Paper Bag Simple Machine
Learners explore simple machines. In this simple machines science lesson, students work with a partner to identify what kind of simple machine is represented by a variety of household objects placed in paper bags. Learners write down...
Norwich Institute for Language Education
Simple Machines
Planning a unit on simple machines? Save some time and energy with this collection of lessons and activities that explores how these devices are used in the real world to make life a little easier.
Purdue University
Simple Machines – Dog Gone It!
How can people use simple machines to solve real-world STEM problems? Learn about simple machines using a hands-on, project-based learning activity. First, pupils investigate and evaluate simple machines. Then, they receive a task that...
Curated OER
Levers and Pulleys and Gears, Oh My!
Students explore the difference between compound and simple machines in this six lessons of this unit. The purpose and importance of a variety of types of simple machines and the effects of friction are investigated.
Curated OER
Applied Science - Technology (KA) Pre Lab
Students explore tools. In this tool lesson, students see how tools and machines were invented to help people work easier. They see different types of simple machines such as wheel and axle, lever, and wedge.
Curated OER
Simple Machines IV - Levers
The lever is an everyday simple machine. Youngsters learn the principles of levers and explore their many uses. Groups of pupils perform a simple lab where they lift objects with a fulcrum while placing the load in a variety of...
Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg's Simple Normal Humdrum School Day
If you're going to build a machine, you might as well make it interesting and amusing. A set of eight lessons and activities introduces simple machines using Rube Goldberg machines. A culminating project challenges techies to create and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Learners create a pyramid design based on the 6 simple machines that they are introduced to. In this simple machines lesson plan, students are introduced to the wedge, wheel and axle, inclined plane, screw, and pulley.
Curated OER
Matching Types of Simple Machines
In this matching types of simple machines worksheet, 5th graders read the definition and examples of simple machines, then match 10 pictures of devices with 4 categories.
Curated OER
Stop Pulling My Bot Around!
Students investigate the relationship between work and mechanical advantage. In this physics lesson plan, students calculate the work and efficiency of pulleys. They identify the different types of pulleys.
Curated OER
Robotic Muscles
Students investigate how adding more pulleys affect the pulling power. In this physics lesson, students explain how pulleys work. They compare the work done by robots with and without pulleys.
Curated OER
Simple Machines
In this science worksheet, students focus upon the concept of bicycle gears and develop the answers to the 2 questions at the bottom of the page.
Curated OER
Lift and Pull
Students examine the mechanical advantage of pulleys. In this pulleys lesson students are given a challenge to help save a whale by setting up different pulleys systems to move it.
Teach Engineering
The Advantage of Machines
Show your students how to make their work easier. The first instructional activity 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...
Rainforest Alliance
Sounds of the Rainforest
Do you hear what I hear? Encourage scholars to use their listening skills and participate in a series of activities that demonstrate how the sense of hearing is crucial to the human and animal world. Activities guide learners on nature...
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
Simple Machines
Simple doesn't mean useless. Individuals learn how simple machines benefit the user by changing the amount of effort. A seven-lesson unit begins with an overview of simple machines and then incorporates activities that allow the user to...
College Board
2015 AP® Physics 1 Free-Response Questions
It's rare for even 40 percent of test takers to pass the AP Physics 1 exam. Improve those odds for young scientists with the help of actual free response questions covering topics from free body diagrams to velocity. The College Board...
Purdue University
Simple Machines
What's the best way to use a simple machine to solve a real-world problem? Scholars construct their own simple and complex machines to explore the concepts of work and force. They discuss examples of simple machines they have found in...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Young scholars discover what simple machines are and identify a gear, a pulley, and a lever. In teams, they build at least two models each of simple machines and challenge them with specific instruction cards. Finally, students present...
Curated OER
Machinery In Society
Students explore technology by completing a worksheet in class. In this common machinery instructional activity, students define the different designs that make simple machines work such as wheels, pulleys and gears. Students utilize...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Students research simple machines. In this simple machines lesson, students explore the many types of simple machines such as the lever, pulley, and screw. Students discover simple machines in the classroom.