Curated OER
Simple Machines I - Inclined Planes, Wedges, and Screws
Fourth graders examine the physics behind and uses for inclined planes, screws, and wedges. They determine examples of how these simple machines are used in daily life. Working in three small groups, they move from station to station...
Curated OER
Making Life Easier
Students use a chart of the six simple machines and become aware of how the machines improve our ability to meet the following needs: shelter, food, water, and transportation. Students use model cars to experiment with force. They divide...
PBS
Zip Line
Slide all the way to the bottom. Using the design process, pupils create a carrier for a ping pong ball that will travel down a zip line. Learners test their carriers and determine solutions to issues they encounter to complete the third...
It's About Time
Run and Jump
Has your class wondered how fast a human could run or how high they are capable of jumping? Help them understand these concepts as they explore acceleration and use an accelerometer to make semiquantitative measurements of acceleration...
Teach Engineering
Six Minutes of Terror
Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...
DiscoverE
Build a Bobsled Racer
Host a design challenge of Olympic proportion! Junior engineers build their own bobsleds using simple materials. The activity focuses on kinetic and potential energy and how the center of mass affects motion on a downhill track....
Curated OER
Testing and Refining Aircraft Design
Students design and make a flying device. They work in small groups to brainstorm ideas for the design of their device. They choose an idea or combination of ideas to use for their design and create a sketch of their design. The students...
Curated OER
Origami Flight: The Physical Setting
Sixth graders investigate the forces that move certain objects. In this physics lesson, 6th graders design and create paper flying objects using origami methods, which they practice flying in different conditions. Students record and...
Curated OER
Simple Harmonic Motion
Students study harmonic motion and its oscillation. In this simple harmonic motion lesson students demonstrate a series of regular oscillations and explain the theory behind the experiment.
Curated OER
Simple Machines III - Pulleys
Fourth graders are introduced to a spring scale to show that the forces on both sides of the pulley are the same. They break into groups to lift objects with fixed pulleys and with multiple looped pulleys and then measure the force...
Curated OER
Simple Machines IV - Wheels and Axles
Fourth graders study everyday examples of simple machines. They examine how the combination of a wheel and axle works more efficiently than either in isolation. In a demonstration lesson, they see how a spring scale shows a force pulling...
Curated OER
Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree…You Might Become Famous
Students explore Newton's laws using CEENBoTs. In this physics lesson, students collect data and create tables and graphs. They calculate speed, acceleration and forces using mathematical formulas.
Curated OER
Newton's Laws of Motion
Students perform three activities that each demonstrate one of Newton's Laws of Motion. They use a ramp and toy car to demonstrate inertia, calculate acceleration due to gravity, then use a medicine ball and rolling chair to demonstrate...
Curated OER
Avalanche!
Middle schoolers explain that when forces on an object are balanced, the motion of object does not change. They describe how an object changes its motion when forces on it are unbalanced. They plan and conduct a scientific investigation...
Curated OER
Space Ship Pilot
Pupils visualize the relation between acceleration and velocity in 2 dimensions. They are introduced to Newton's first law,and Newton's second law. Students work on an exploration activity where they condsider an example of a...
Curated OER
Big Wheels Keep on Turning
Eleventh graders work in groups and investigate how force determines the speed and distance then they view the video, "Math Vantage #7: What's Your Angle?." They are given a real life problem to solve using speed, ramps, angle, incline...
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 I - Inclined Planes, Wedges, and Screws
The principles and uses of inclined planes, screws, and wedges are the focus of a science lesson. In it, youngsters come up with every day examples of simple machines, and build an example of one in class. That project is then used to...
Curated OER
Circle of Pong
Students, in groups, use given materials to devise a way to deposit a ping-pong ball into a paper cup that is located in the middle of a 6-foot diameter circle, while standing outside the circle.
Curated OER
Engineering Lessons Adapted for Special Education
Modifying engineering lessons from NASA makes them accessible to a wider variety of learners.
Curated OER
Exploring Buoyancy
Learners use materials found at a resource table to design simple devices that will house instruments to take water samples from a tub of water. They design 3 instruments, each varying in density so that one will float, one will hover...
Curated OER
Magnet Circus
Students explore the properties of magnets by designing a device that can move as far as possible using only magnets to move it, and design a machine that will stay in motion for the greatest period of time.
Curated OER
Free Up the Ketchup!
Students, in teams, use given materials and their knowledge of Newton's First Law to create a device that will remove a sticky ping pong ball from a 16-oz. cup (which represents ketchup stuck in a bottle.)
Teach Engineering
You Are There... First Flight
Glide into the study of flight. An engaging lesson has scholars research information on the Wright brothers. They develop props and produce a recreation of the first flight at Kitty Hawk. They then report on the event as if they were...