Simple Machines, Odd Machine

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 children in...

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 to...

Here is a tri-faceted resource that has a slide show, a quiz, and a vocabulary list that you can use to teach simple machines. Six machines are introduced: wheels and axles, planes, levers, pulleys, wedges, and screws. Slides contain...

Wrap up the unit in one final design. Pairs use their knowledge of aviation to design new flying machines and record how their designs take into consideration the forces that act upon airplanes. The pupils determine whether their designs...

A Rube Goldberg machine does not really look like it would make work easier. Introduce your class to Rube Goldberg with a resource that shows how his inventions make simple tasks harder to complete. 

Show your students how to make their work easier. The first lesson in a series of 10 introduces the class to work and the way simple machines can be make work easier. The simple machines scholars can find in everyday items are inclined...

Let's see how complicated we can make this simple task. The last activity associated with a 10-part series has groups design and build a Rube Goldberg machine. Teams determine a simple task to accomplish and use the engineering design...

In this video segment from ZOOM, Jillian explains how her simple machine uses marbles, levers, flowing sand, and a spinning wheel to water a plant. [1:16]

Exactly what did Archimedes mean when he said, "Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth"? Watch this video and find out as it explains the mathematics behind levers, and explores a few fun hypothetical situations involving...

Learn about levers and make the connection between these simple machines and the human body.