Curated OER
Lifting a Load
Students experiments with levers to determine if the amount of force needed to lift a load is always the same. In this physics lesson, students use Lab-Pro data collector as they experiment with the fulcrum placement to measure the work...
Curated OER
Can a Mouse Lift an Elephant?
Read Just a Little Bit, by Ann Tompert as an introduction to levers. Discuss playground seesaws and then turn learners loose to experiment with the placement of a fulcrum. Their goal is to determine where to place it in order to lift ten...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Working with Wind Energy
Teams design and build a windmill, under budget, that can lift an object. The groups evaluate and reflect on their own design, then on those produced by other teams. The goal is to determine which design is the most...
Curated OER
Using Fulcrums
Students engage in a lesson that concentrates on the use of a lever and fulcrum. They define how a lever is used to lift a load. The lesson has background information to justify it. Students demonstrate how to use the lever while lifting...
Curated OER
Rocket Transportation
Students use problem solving skills to lift a load using a balloon rocket. They construct a rocket out of a balloon and use it to carry a paper clip payload.
Teach Engineering
Levers that Lift
Introduce your class to to the remaining three simple machines-- the lever, pulley, and the wheel-and-axle with a plan that includes the three different types of levers in the discussion of levers. The lesson continues with the...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Levers - Weight Lifters
Students investigate how levers help to lift heavy loads. They view and discuss examples of levers, explore various websites, experiment with the levers brought to the class, and watch the video for the book "Mike Mulligan and His Steam...
Curated OER
Investigating Pulleys
Young scholars investigate pulleys and see how they have a mechanical advantage in lifting heavy loads. In this pulley lesson plan students make a hypothesis, complete and experiment then complete a worksheet.
Curated OER
Secrets of Lost Empires I
Learners investigate how levers can be used to lift objects. They participate in hands-on activities to explore the distance a load is lifted when comparing the amount the lever arm was pushed down. Students discover the how placement...
Curated OER
Simple Machines IV - Levers
The lever is an everyday simple machine. Youngsters learn the principles of levers and explore their many uses. Groups of pupils perform a simple lab where they lift objects with a fulcrum while placing the load in a variety of...
Curated OER
What Can We Lose? What Do We Lose as we Gain Force With A Lever?
Third graders view a demonstration of a teeter totter as a basis for assessing pre-knowledge of a lever. They create a KwL chart. Students work in small groups to conduct a variety of experiments. The first requires students to tie books...
Curated OER
Toting the Log and Lifting the Babe
Students use simple machines that demonstrate force, friction, work and power. They investigate and explain simple machines.
Curated OER
Simple Machines - Levers
Fourth graders lift objects with the fulcrum and load in various positions and then experiment with how much force is exerted by the effort and load arms of the lever. They place 5 paper clips in the load and move the fulcrum to match...
Curated OER
Secrets of Lost Empires II-Pharaoh's Obelisk
Students identify and analyze how levers work by raising a brick with a shish kebab skewer. Students present their work, explaining what did and did not work, including illustrations of the lever lift from different angles. Students...
Curated OER
A Simple Block and Tackle Pulley Demonstration
Students investigate the scientific concept of mechanical advantage. They construct their own system with the use of a simple broomstick. Then the demonstration is done to show how the mechanical advantage is used to move a load.
Curated OER
Positioning the fulcrum in class one levers
Students explore the relationship between force and the distance of the load from the fulcrum. In this experimental lesson students get into groups and make a lever and record the force that is needed to move it, they then try this...
Curated OER
Steep, Steeper, and Steepest
Fifth graders discuss ways to move large rocks. They relate this to building a rock garden, and the ways people might load boulders into a truck. Students discuss the use of a ramp vs. lifting the boulder straight up onto the bed of the...
Curated OER
Lawnchair Larry Flies!
Students research and experiment to discover the lifting power of helium gas.
Teach Engineering
Just Plane Simple
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...
Curated OER
Tens! Hundreds! Thousands!!! of Tons
Fifth graders take a close look at the types of ships that travel through the Hudson River Valley on the Hudson River. They utilize worksheets embedded in the plan in order to answer questions about exactly what is being shipped, and how...
Curated OER
Experiments with Levers
Students investigate levers. For this simple machine lesson, students study levers and the mechanical advantage of using levers. They will collect data and illustrate their systems for eight different tests.
Curated OER
Big Boats Up The River
Using boats along in the Port of Albany as the focus, learners practice adding single-digit numbers and interpreting data. This lesson plan comes with the worksheets, resource links, and other materials to make it a worthwhile experience.
Curated OER
Add and Subtract with Hudson River shipping
Rivers aren't just a place for animals to live, they also provide industrial transportation. The class will examine the Hudson River on a map, discuss all the commercial vessels that use the River to transport materials, then complete a...