Wedge Teacher Resources

Students explore the simple machine of a wedge. In this wedge lesson, students test wedges on different materials including wax, soap, clay and foam. They learn how a wedge was used to build the ancient pyramid and modern day skyscrapers.

It is plane to see that simple machines help reduce the force needed to perform a task.  This resource introduces three of the simple machines--the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw, and  the formulas in order to be able to...

Students explore the Carbon Mitigation Initiative by playing the Wedge Game. In this environmental science lesson, students discuss different strategies to reduce carbon emissions. They evaluate their strategies and rate sustainability.

Fourth graders observe and identify a variety of weathering and geological activities in the area in which they live. This focuses primarily on what happened during the Ice Age, and how, even today, glaciers are shaping and re-shaping...

In this museum student guide worksheet, learners make a mini-book about simple machines to be used during a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry. They locate the exhibits that demonstrate the wedge, inclined plane, screw, lever,...

Fourth graders investigate the principles and uses of an inclined plane, screw, and wedge and identify examples of simple machines. They rotate through three experiment stations, complete a worksheet for each station, and read a handout...

In this simple machines worksheet, students look at 6 pictures and name the kind of simple machine. Students then look around school and home to list examples of the simple machines: lever. inclined plane, wheel and axle, pulley, wedge...

Here is a geology lesson that is sure to get your charges excited. It's all about the process of weathering of rocks. Learners study natural events that can cause rocks to break apart. Some of these events are: ice wedging, plant...

Simple machines are fascinating for kids! This short, but effective presentation goes into the six types of simple machines: the pulley, the lever, the wedge, the wheel and axle, the inclined plane, and the screw. The slides give...

Students describe how wedge and lever makes work easier. In this physics lesson, students analyze experimental data by creating a graph to see the trends. They calculate the work done and mechanical advantage of these simple machines.

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...

Designed for a lower elementary school classroom, this presentation on simple machines is a wonderful way to introduce this topic. The resource begins by identifying and defining the six types of simple machines, and then goes on to...

Do your experienced potters need a new challenge? Because of its composition, porcelain is more difficult to work with and producing a piece requires great skill and patience. This resources details the procedure, from the designing...

Mother Nature's Gravel Company is open for business! The unit includes four lessons covering weathering and erosion. Experiments are simple to complete and young geologists compare notes to see who makes the biggest ice wedge, moves...

Students complete activities to learn about the common land features in Alaska. In this land study lesson, students study an overhead for permafrost features. Students define ice wedge polygons, thermokarst, and pingos. Students also...

Fourth graders examine the principles and uses of inclined planes, screws, and wedges while they determine examples of simple machines that are use in everyday life. They separate different kinds of fruit into pieces to determine the...

With well-thought-out and explicit instructions, this lesson is a terrific way to explore levers and inclined planes. There are detailed instructions and discussion suggestions throughout the resource.

Here is an inventive plan that should get your young scientists excited! In it, groups of pupils test out the work done by six different simple machines. The machines are: the wedge, the lever, the inclined plane, the pulley, the screw,...

Face jugs have been crafted by pre-Columbian artists, Native Americans, and by black slave potters. Young artists wedge, coil, blend, score, slip and glaze their own jug, fired by their imagination.

Teamwork and critical thinking combine to for a creative lesson on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Ebullient environmental studies learners play a game in which they strategize how to place colorful energy wedges together to create a...

A colorful wedge of Earth, map of tectonic plates, and numbered facts about Earth structure fill the first two pages of this resource. After reading and absorbing the information, geologists get into groups and make clay models to...

While teaching about endangered species, you can incorporate this activity as a take-home reminder of what is threatening the sea turtle population. It is one of those paper plate projects in which a wedge is cut out to reveal a picture...

Reinforce all those skills you've been teaching with a game of Trivial Pursuit, math style! Each child moves around the game board and attempts to answer each question in order to gain a colored wedge, just like the real game. The...

Who cut the cheese? Given a drawing of a wedge of cheese, pupils determine the 2-D figure cross-sections. They draw and describe the cross-sections created by making slices perpendicular and parallel to the base.