An Exploration of Simple Machines

Planning an elementary science unit has never been simpler! These twelve lessons guide young scientists through an exploration of simple machines and their many uses in the real world before asking them to apply their learning in the...

Trying to plan a physical science unit on forces and motion? Make your work a little easier with this comprehensive collection of simple machines resources. Offering a wide variety worksheets, activities, and projects, these materials...

How does using a tool affect the amount of energy required to do work? is the driving question of an inquiry based lesson that guides scholars through the investigation of how energy relates to the purpose of different simple machines. 

The principles of levers and simple machines are presented here. An easy-to-make lever is constructed by each group of scientists, and they use it to explore how this simple machine makes heavy things so much easier to lift and move. A...

Stretch, twitch, and jerk with a simple machines science activity. Three distinct exercises to explore pulleys, levers, gears, and how they are used daily in our world.

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...

Students explore inclined planes. In this simple machines lesson, students conduct an experiment on a slide using a rope with a bag. Students observe the force needed to pull the bag to the top of the slide.

Students examine six simple machines and investigate who Rube Goldberg is. They explore various websites, write an article, write ten interesting facts about Rube Goldberg, and design and construct a simple machine.

Fourth graders investigate and explore the inner workings of objects that help us do work. They examine how the parts work together to make the object function. Using the internet, 4th graders discover the interaction of the parts of a...

Third graders examine simple machines. In this simple machines lesson, 3rd graders explore primary sources available from the Library of Congress featuring simple machines of years past. Students design their own compound...