Students determine the forces necessary to move a truck on an inclined plane with weight and slope as variables. They identify the cheapest way to transport trash to local garbage disposal sites.

Students use an inclined plane to move a heavy load.

Students describe how inclined plane and pulleys make work easier. In this physics lesson, students calculate work done and mechanical advantage of both simple machines. They collect data from the experiment and construct graphs.

Students experiment to see how various objects roll down ramps. In this ramp lesson, students observe weight, size, and material of objects.  Students compare speeds by using a second ramp.  

In this inclined planes worksheet, students investigate the effort force needed to move a 1 kg weight up a ramp to different distances on the ramp. Students calculate the work input and output for each trial as well as the...

Learners explore and measure the rate of spherical objects rolling down a ramp. They discuss why different ramps work better than others, and practice procedures for testing designs and recording results.

For this museum student guide worksheet, students 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,...

What determines which ball rolls the fastest — the weight, the radius, the material, or something else? Scholars select two balls to race down the inclined plane, determining their material and radius. As they race, the simulation graphs...

Students explore how various ramps affect the rate of speed of a rolling object. In this physics lesson, students work in groups to build a ramp out of various materials. Students test and record the rate of speed of a rolling object by...

Learners perform the following activity as a group so that they can gain experience with how ramps work. Students will first construct a simple ramp and then time how fast different objects roll down that ramp.

Eighth graders examine the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane through experimentation.

Ramp up the engineering design process in your classroom with an activity that challenges teams to design, build, and test a small-scale portable wheelchair ramp. The class develops design requirements, and teams test their designs...

Can you lift a piano into a truck? Simulation allows scholars to explore the relationship between force, ramp length, and weight. Pupils control the variables of truck bed height, ramp length, weight of piano, and the number of friends...

Young scholars explore the concepts of force and effort by observing simple machines. In this physics lesson, students attempt to sharpen a pencil without any help, bite into an orange with their lips curled over their teeth, and other...

Middle schoolers perform an experiment in order to determine how increasing weight affects the velocity of a truck and use the computer to compile their data.

Students role several balls of different weights down a ramp and into a paper cup and record how far each ball made the paper cup move. They then answer questions that help them analyze their results and reinforce the idea that energy...

In this physics activity, students use the clues given on the sheet to complete the crossword puzzle on simple machines. There are 18 clues to solve in the puzzle.

Young scholars examine what lies within the Earth. They research and create scale models illustrating the layers of the Earth and write skits advocating a travel plan to send a probe into the Earth's mantle.

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. 

Student design and build Lego vehicles that drag given amount of weight up an incline. They show how this demonstrates Egyptian methods of pyramid construction.

In this machines learning exercise, students review the six simple machines and how to calculate mechanical advantage. Students complete 8 matching, 16 fill in the blank, and 6 problems to solve.

In this simple machines worksheet, students read about various types of simple machines. They then use what they learned to answer 17 questions. The answers are on the last page.

Students spin themselves to understand rotational inertia. For this Inertia lesson, students will also use ramps, balance beam and pendelum to conduct rotational inertia experiments. Students draw conclusions to explain rotational...

The tension of the 236 strings in a grand piano exert a combined force of 20 tons on the cast iron frame. The presentation includes topics such as work, forms of energy, conservation of energy, gravitational and elastic potential energy,...