Curated OER
Big Wheels Keep on Turning
Eleventh graders work in groups and investigate how force determines the speed and distance then they view the video, "Math Vantage #7: What's Your Angle?." They are given a real life problem to solve using speed, ramps, angle, incline...
Curated OER
Simple Machines - Inclined Plane
Students learn the fundamentals and daily applications of simple machines.
Curated OER
Machines: Not So Simple
Students examine the names and images of simple machines in a matching activity. They build a simple machine using K'NEX before taking and printing out a digital picture of their example. They complete five station activities based on...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Students research simple machines. In this simple machines activity, students explore the many types of simple machines such as the lever, pulley, and screw. Students discover simple machines in the classroom.
Curated OER
Break It Down!
Students explore the everyday implications of system failure. They are challenged to identify the causes of system failure.
Curated OER
Simple and Complex Machines Used In Agriculture
Students explore agriculture and the current technologies and research that continue to make Earth a viable planet. This four lessons unit introduce students to simple machines and the concepts of force and friction through a variety of...
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
Forces and Movement
In this forces and motion worksheet, students study the 3 illustrations of cars traveling down a ramp. Students determine which cars will earn 1, 2, 3 place based on their motion. Students then draw 2 more cars: one that will travel...
Curated OER
Balls and Ramp
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...
Curated OER
Simple Machines and Mechanical Advantage
In this machines worksheet, 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.
Chicago Children's Museum
Simple Machines: Force and Motion
Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion,...
Cherokee County Schools
Simple Machines Project
The choice is simple: create a PowerPoint presentation, write a book, or invent a compound machine. Whichever project your young scientists choose, they will be engaged in creatively demonstrating their knowledge of simple...
Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg's Simple Normal Humdrum School Day
If you're going to build a machine, you might as well make it interesting and amusing. A set of eight lessons and activities introduces simple machines using Rube Goldberg machines. A culminating project challenges techies to create and...
Teach Engineering
Portable Wheelchair Ramp Challenge
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...
CK-12 Foundation
Ramp and Piano
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...
Curated OER
Slope, Vectors, and Wind Pressure
A hands-on lesson using the TI-CBR Motion Detector to provide information to graph and analyze. The class uses this information to calculate the slope of motion graphs and differentiate scalar and vector quantities. There is a real-world...
Curated OER
Geometric Applications
In this geometry worksheet, pupils solve 5 word problems. Each of the problems involves finding one side of a right triangle. Story problems relate the Pythagorean Theorem to building ramps, shadows, and the length of a banner.
Purdue University
Simple Machines – Dog Gone It!
How can people use simple machines to solve real-world STEM problems? Learn about simple machines using a hands-on, project-based learning activity. First, pupils investigate and evaluate simple machines. Then, they receive a task that...
Curated OER
Rules of the Roll
Students roll a ball down a plank and measure the distance it travels. Students graph the distances the ball travels as they change the height of the incline (increase slope).
Curated OER
Farming in the 1930's
Students research and conduct experiments with several types of simple machines. They examine levers, pulleys, inclined planes, wheels, axles, wedges and screws and then consider the physics behind "Green Eggs and Ham".
Curated OER
Friction Flyers
Learners explore the principles of magnetism and friction. They complete an interactive puzzle on the Gizmos and Gadgets computer software, construct a vehicle, build and modify ramps and vehicles to produce various outcomes, and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines V - Wheels and Axles and Gears
Fourth graders investigate the principles and uses of gears, and examine how gears can be used to alter the direction of motion or the speed of an object. They observe two cars with different sized wheels roll down an inclined plane,...
Curated OER
Applied Science - Technology (2A) Lab
Second graders experiment with simple machines. In this machine lesson, 2nd graders go to different labs to see examples of a lever, inclined plane, wedge, pulley, gears, and wheel and axle. They discuss how a machine makes work a lot...
Curated OER
Three, Two, One, Go!
Students work in teams conducting an experiment that demonstrates why the height of an inclined plane affects the speed at which an object travels. They record data on a chart and calculate speed to reveal the results of three trials at...