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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Engineering: Simple Machines

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Simple machines are devices with few or no moving parts that make work easier. Students are introduced to the six types of simple machines - the wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, and pulley - in the context of the...
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Simple Machines

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
This instructional activity will teach young scholars about simple machines. Students will have an opportunity to explore and identify simple machines used in their everyday lives. Young scholars will enjoy learning as they play a game...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Levers That Lift

For Teachers 6th - 8th
This lesson introduces students to three of the six simple machines used by many engineers: the lever, the pulley, and the wheel-and-axle. In general, engineers use the lever to magnify the force applied to an object, the pulley to lift...
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Lesson Plan
ArtsNow

Arts Now Learning: Dancing Machines [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th
In this lesson, 4th graders explore simple machines through movement and create imaginative new machines through choreographic sequences and collaboration.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Rube Goldberg and the Meaning of Machines

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Simple and compound machines are designed to make work easier. When we encounter a machine that does not fit this understanding, the so-called machine seems absurd. In this instructional activity, the cartoons of Rube Goldberg are...
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Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Try Engineering: Simple Kitchen Machines

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Team lesson focuses on the different types of simple machines, how they work, and how they can be found in daily life.
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Machines All Around Us

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Student will examine different rooms in the school looking for simple machines. They will use digital cameras to take pictures of the simple machine they have found in the school and Microsoft PowerPoint to create a presentation of their...
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Lesson Plan
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)

Smile: Simple Machines

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Calculating Kinetics of a Student Designed Machine

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this interactive building experience, students will design and construct a complex machine to do a fairly simple task. Students will calculate several kinetic quantities of different parts of their machine. Students will create an...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Construction of a Complex Machine Through Classroom Collaboration

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students take a simple task and make it much more complicated using a cardboard box. Each group must use a minimum of six simple machines utilizing at least four types of simple machines. The goal is to keep the initial impulse moving...
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Lesson Plan
Other

Ontario Council for Technology Education: Designing and Testing a Crane [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
By the end of this project, students will be familiar with the 6 different simple machines and will be able to identify how these machines are used in products and tools they use on a daily basis. They will investigate how mechanical...
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Lesson Plan
Utah Education Network

Uen: Third Grade Writing Lesson #2 / Science Prompt

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Third graders will invent a gadget using one or more simple machines and write about it.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Pyramid Building: How to Use a Wedge

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students learn how simple machines, including wedges, were used in building both ancient pyramids and present-day skyscrapers. In a hands-on activity, students test a variety of wedges on different materials (wax, soap, clay, foam)....
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Powerful Pulleys

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students continue to explore the story of building a pyramid, learning about the simple machine called a pulley. They learn how a pulley can be used to change the direction of applied forces and move/lift extremely heavy objects, and the...
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Lesson Plan
Other

Uss Constitution Museum: Constructing a Warship

For Teachers 1st - 5th
USS Constitution was built as a fighting machine and utilized the six simple machines of science to accomplish the many tasks required of her. Students will identify and manipulate these machines to create inventions that would have made...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: How a Faucet Works

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students learn about the underlying engineering principals in the inner workings of a simple household object - the faucet. Students use the basic concepts of simple machines, force and fluid flow to describe the path of water through a...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Let's Move It!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars explore methods employing simple machines likely used in ancient pyramid building, as well as common modern-day material transportation. They learn about the wheel and axle as a means to transport materials from rock...
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Levers Weight Lifters

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
During this lesson, learners will have the opportunity to explore levers through hands-on experiences and by navigating the Internet. This lesson allows students to use their experiences to determine how levers and other simple machines...
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Lesson Plan
SRI International

Performance Assessment Links in Science: Some of Its Parts

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
As they examine two variations of a can opener, students will discuss what the purpose is of each of its sub-parts, and which of the can openers is the better machine. They will also suggest improvements to the can opener. This is a...
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Engineering Solutions

For Students K - 1st
Anyone who has attempted one of those "claw machine" games at local restaurants or retailers knows how impossible it seems to win. This activity will get students using the engineering design process to develop a claw that will actually...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Teachers: Scientific American: Games Machines Play: Streamlined Design

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Explore the streamlined shapes of submarines and design an effective hull shape. Observe how streamlining affects a vehicle as it is pulled through a water-filled trough.
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Nasa: The Screw

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
In this lesson plan students learn how to make a screw and compare how many turns it takes for different screws to embed into a piece of wood.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: The Physics and Engineering of a Trebuchet

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this simple machines lab students investigate how the trebuchet works using their prior knowledge of simple machines. Students then build a trebuchet and analyze the physics and engineering that goes into building and launching it.

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