Curated OER
Machinery In Society
Students explore technology by completing a worksheet in class. In this common machinery lesson, students define the different designs that make simple machines work such as wheels, pulleys and gears. Students utilize verbs to describe...
Curated OER
The Strength of the Muscular System
Seventh graders investigate the strength of the muscular system. They explore voluntary and involuntary muscle movement and discuss the types of muscles: cardiac or heart, skeletal, and smooth. They visit stations to answer questions...
Curated OER
Simple Machines in the Home
Students explore simple machines used in the home. In this simple machines lesson, students discover that many household items are constructed from simple machines. Students interact with nutcrackers, peelers, egg slicers, and egg beaters.
Curated OER
Newton and his Laws
Students explore Newton's laws, including what they state, and what the intuitive meaning is of the first and third laws.
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
Levers
Students brainstorm if they think that any lever would use the same amount of paperclips. They break into small groups and use a data sheet as well as a lever, Lego person, fulcrum, and some paperclips and prove what they think by taking...
Curated OER
Pull(ey)ing The Science Out (Or Pulleys)
Students investigate how the number of pulleys affect the difficulty or ease of pulling an object up. They watch a demonstration that shows the work done by one pulley and two pulleys. After watching the demonstration, the students break...
Curated OER
Work and Efficiency
In this doing work instructional activity, learners calculate how a ramp can increase the efficiency of the work done by decreasing the force necessary to complete the task. This instructional activity has 9 problems to solve.
Curated OER
Constant Net Force
In this forces activity, students calculate life force, acceleration, and displacement for 8 word problems. Students must label force diagram and a summation force model.
Curated OER
How They Get Building Materials Out of the Ground
Learners experience a virtual quarry. In this science musical lesson plan, students understand how materials are quarried and manufactured from rocks, musically interpret a quarrying sequence with untuned musical instruments, and...
Curated OER
The Wright Brothers
In this online interactive Wright brothers activity, students respond to 8 fill in the blank and multiple choice questions regarding the information included in the provided paragraphs.
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Students investigate simple machines. In this simple machines lesson, students explore how tools increase productivity and make life easier. Students experiment with simple tools and discover the parts of each tool.
Curated OER
#22c Airplane flight #22d Airplane flight--How High? How Fast?
Learners discuss the application of frames of reference to an airplane flying with a constant velocity v through the air.
Curated OER
Flying With The Wright Stuff
Students explore the history of flight, specifically the Wright brothers. Pupils create paper airplanes. They discuss considerations in building an aircraft such as drag, thrust, and weight. Classmates compare the Wright Brother's...
Curated OER
Inclined Planes
Pupils break into small groups with each group using 3 books, a board with pulleys attached at both ends, a toy cart, a small paper cup with a long piece of string attached the end and some pennies. They test their guesses to see if it...
Curated OER
Moving Things with Pressure
Fifth graders complete a construction project. In this pneumatic system instructional activity students study the basic hydraulic systems and construct their own project.
Curated OER
Siphon Pump
Pupils determine the basic types of pumps and how they work in terms of pressure, velocity, and elevation differences. They build two examples of gravity-driven water pumps.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Put Your Water to Work: Using Hydropower to Lift a Load
Water creates a lot of energy, just look at the Grand Canyon. In this science fair project, you will demonstrate the power of water by converting the kinetic energy in moving water to mechanical energy, which will lift a small weight.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Give Yourself a Lift: Lightening the Load With Pulleys
Before the Industrial Age, people relied on muscle power for moving and lifting heavy objects. Here's a project that shows you how you can use your head to make heavy lifting easier on your muscles - and your back.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Give It a Lift With a Lever
Simple machines allow us to do difficult tasks like lifting objects heavier than our body weight. In this science project you'll build a tabletop lever and measure how much effort it takes to lift an object by altering the length of the...
NASA
Nasa: What Is Lift?
A description of how lift is a mechanical force that requires a fluid moving through a solid object and a change in velocity.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Levers That Lift
This lesson introduces students to three of the six simple machines used by many engineers: the lever, the pulley, and the wheel-and-axle. In general, engineers use the lever to magnify the force applied to an object, the pulley to lift...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Just Plane Simple
This lesson introduces students to three of the six simple machines used by many engineers. These machines include the inclined plane, the wedge and the screw. In general, engineers use the inclined plane to lift heavy loads, the wedge...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Claw
Students learn about gear ratios and power by operating toy mechanical cranes of differing gear ratios. They attempt to pick up objects with various masses to witness how much power must be applied to the system to oppose the force of...