TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Simple Machines
Through a five-lesson series with five hands-on activities, students are introduced to six simple machines - inclined plane, wedge, screw, lever, pulley, wheel-and-axle - as well as compound machines, which are combinations of two or...
Museum of Science
The Museum of Science: Classroom Activity Be Inventive!
Student activity that requires the design, construction, and testing of a compound machine to solve a problem in their environment.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Not So Simple
Students expand upon their understanding of simple machines with an introduction to compound machines. A compound machine - a combination of two or more simple machines - can affect work more than its individual components. Engineers who...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rube Goldberg and the Meaning of Machines
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 lesson, the cartoons of Rube Goldberg are introduced and engage...
Museum of Science
Museum of Science (Boston): Leonardo's Mysterious Machines
A game that showcases the inventive genius of Leonardo da Vinci, who made drawings of helicopters, planes, and tanks long before these machines ever became modern-era realities. Have fun learning about Leonardo's many ideas while you...
Open Door Team
Open Door Web Site: Chronology of the Development of Steam Power 1696 1839
This complete chronology of steam power is designed in time line fashion. Next to each year is a detailed description of the invention. Another useful aspect of this site is the "Link to the decades," found at the top of the page. Each...