Unit Plan
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory

Simple Machines

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Simple doesn't mean useless. Individuals learn how simple machines benefit the user by changing the amount of effort. A seven-lesson unit begins with an overview of simple machines and then incorporates activities that allow the user to...
Unit Plan
Broward County Public Schools

Force and Motion

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Get the ball rolling with this upper-elementary science unit on forces and motion. Offering over three weeks of physical science lessons, this resource is a great way to engage the class in learning about simple machines, friction,...
Activity
Science Companion

Simple Machines Design Project

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Make your work as a teacher a little easier with a physical science project on simple machines. After introducing young scientists to these devices and identifying their different uses around the school, this project engages...
Interactive
PHET

Balancing Act

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
How can a teeter-totter balance when the two people are different sizes? Show classes how this works through a simulation. Scholars play with a teeter-totter to show how different masses and their placement affect balance. Once they have...
Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

See Saw

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Can a mother who weighs five times more than her child really be held in the air on a see saw by the child? A simple simulation demonstrates how this is possible through altering the distance from the fulcrum. Scholars can adjust the...
Lesson Plan
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Purdue University

Simple Machines

For Teachers 3rd
What's the best way to use a simple machine to solve a real-world problem? Scholars construct their own simple and complex machines to explore the concepts of work and force. They discuss examples of simple machines they have found in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

LEGO Balance

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students design and build a balance using LEGO, string, and a set of standard metric weights.
Organizer
Curated OER

Simple Machines

For Students 2nd - 4th
In this simple machines worksheet, students will write in 6 examples of simple machines and then write in what those simple machines can do.
Organizer
Curated OER

How Do Simple Machines Work?

For Students 2nd - 4th
In this simple machines worksheet, students brainstorm problems that can be solved by the work of simple machines. This worksheet is a graphic organizer.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Jensen Bar - What is It and How to Make One

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students identify and make a Jensen Bar. In this Jensen Bar lesson, students study pictures of Jensen Bars and then build their own bar using the listed materials and given directions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Electromagnetic Crane

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Learners explore electromagnetism, simple machines and the design process. They use the concepts of electromagnetism to design and build a device that uses an electromagnet, a pulley and a lever using the provided Engineering Design...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines, Odd Machine

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars examine levers and design a machine that uses a lever as a central component.  In this lever machine lesson students test various machine designs and evaluate their effectiveness.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Muscular System

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
In this muscular system worksheet, young scholars list the factors used in naming skeletal muscles. Then they explain how fascicle arrangement in muscles contributes to muscle mechanics. Students also describe the three classes of levers...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Introduction to Simple Machines

For Teachers K - 1st
Students investigate simple machines and their uses in everyday life.  In this scientific method lesson, students examine physical tools such as wedges, screws, and levers using a "how does it work" approach.  Students complete...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students investigate and explain simple machines and their uses. Key concepts include: lever, screw, pulley, wheel and axle, inclined plane, and wedge.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analysis of Lobster Claw Function. An Exercise in Biomechanics

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students observe two chelae. They write three differences they observe in their notebooks. Students suggest a hypothesis which would explain these differences. They dissect the chela. Students analyze the lobster claw as a mechanical lever.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students discover what simple machines are and identify a gear, a pulley, and a lever. In teams, they build at least two models each of simple machines and challenge them with specific instruction cards. Finally, students present and...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Machines

For Students 7th - 12th
For this machines worksheet, students review different types of simple machines including pulleys, wedges, levers, and inclined planes. This worksheet has 10 matching, 4 multiple choice, and 8 short answer questions.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Simple Machines

For Students 3rd - 5th
In this simple machines worksheet, students cut out pictures and glue under the labels of "lever," "inclined plane," or "wedge." An answer key is given.
PPT
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Mr. E. Science

Work and Machines

For Students 7th - 8th Standards
What would you be if you were attached to another object by an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis? In this fourth presentation that covers work and simple machines, young physicists look at Newtons and Joules as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Changes in Force, Motion, and Energy

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders construct various machines and compare the work done by them.
Lesson Plan
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NASA

Rocket Wind Tunnel

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Using a teacher-built wind tunnel constructed from a paper concrete tube form, a fan, and a balance, individuals determine the amount of drag their rocket design will experience in flight. Pupils make modifications to increase the...
Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Expected Value: Game of Chance

For Students 11th - 12th Standards
Determine whether the payoff is worth it. Pupils calculate the expected value of a game with three different payoff levels. Each level has a different probability of winning money. The scholars find the expected payoffs for each...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Work and the Farm

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students listen to a lecture by the teacher about farm work and ways to use physics to make farm work easier. The machines that are highlighted include pulleys, ramps, lever, and gears. Each machine is explained in context of its use in...

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