What is a Compound Machine?

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...

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...

Simplify students' lives with this physical science note-taking guide. From inclined planes to moveable pulleys, this resource supports young scientists with defining each type of simple machine while identifying their mechanical...

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...

Planning a unit on simple machines? Save some time and energy with this collection of lessons and activities that explores how these devices are used in the real world to make life a little easier. 

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.

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. 

Teach young engineers that all machines, no matter how complicated or complex, are made up of just six simple devices with this hands-on physical science lesson. Using the included templates, students first create paper models of...

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 machines and...

Students design and create a compound machine. In this simple and compound machines lesson, students review different types of simple and compound machines and think about tasks they complete everyday that would be simpler if they used a...