Term+1+-+Simple+Machines+Unit

Simple Machines =Outcomes= Identifies various types and sources of energy and devises systems that use energy.
 * //PP S2.4 //**
 * //collects and manipulates a range of simple machines and describes how they work, eg egg beater, scissors, can and bottle opener, identifying those with levers //
 * //designs and constructs a prototype, eg a kite, a windmill, wind speed indicator after having evaluated a range of ideas for possible shapes and structures //
 * //explores the operation and purpose of simple machines to develop ideas for the design of a system, eg a coin sorting system //
 * //analyses the operation of a variety of lifting devices, eg levers, car jack etc, comparing the ease of lifting with and without the device //

Conducts investigations by observing, questioning, predicting, testing, collecting, recording and analysing data, and drawing conclusions.
 * //INV S2.7 //**

Develops, implements and evaluates ideas using drawings, models and prototypes at appropriate stages of the design process.
 * //DM S2.8 //**

Selects and uses a range of equipment, computer-based technology, materials and other resources with developing skill to enhance investigation and design tasks.
 * //UT S2.9 //**

**CAPA** - Visual Arts/Technology : Use photographs (triptych) to show simple machines (or aspects thereof) found in the school. **CAPA** - Dance : Create a moving simple machine in groups using only body movements (explain what each part of the machine does/is) Students should be expected to talk and write about their experiences and findings when conducting experiments and investigations. They could keep a journal of each machine in their Science books and sketch each one as it is introduced. || =Teaching/Learning Activities=
 * **Most Students **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">will understand that a machine is something that helps you by making a task easier.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">will identify simple machines such as levers, wedges, screws, inclined planes, wheels, pulleys and gears independently and in real-life settings
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Some students **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">will understand that simple machines only give them an //advantage//. They do not reduce the work you put into a task.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">will explain compound machines as two or more simple machines working together to achieve a task.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">A few students **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">will understand that there is a trade-off in using machines but that it is always in favour of the person.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">will confidently explain machines and work in scientific terms.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">will be able to relate concepts such as friction to machines, explaining how it affects their usefulness. || **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Assessment **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Students to list and draw a variety of simple machines. Explain in writing how at least one of them gives a person a mechanical advantage.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Observational notes and discussion during the unit.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Construct a model of a compound machine using craft materials. Create a diagram, label parts etc.
 * Links and other related Assessment across other KLAs**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Additional Literacy Link: **

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[|Study ladder Link for simple machines] <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[|Simple Machines song] <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;"> || ............................................ Wanted to get straight into the unit because we started it late, so did a basic brainstorm to determine what students knew. || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Extension || Did the small lever experiment, only to find that students really didn't "get" the idea of how it made things easier.
 * || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Activity || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Resources || Evaluation ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Engage ** || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">How can we engage students and elicit their prior knowledge? Representations?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Discuss what machines are, where they are found and what they do. List machines students can name.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Draw out the idea that whatever a machine is for, it is to help do a job and to make that job easier.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain that there are several simple machines, which make work easier without batteries, electricity or even many moving parts. See if students can guess some of these (such as a screwdriver, wrench, hammer etc)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain that a bicycle contains several machines in it which work together to help you get somewhere more quickly.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Diagnostic assessment **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">: label the parts of a bicycle and explain how they help you (this can be compared with one final assessment to show learning so there should be no discussion of the parts prior to the assessment)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain that six simple machines are levers, wedges, inclined planes, wheels, pulleys and gears. There is no definite agreement on exactly what is a simple machine – some people separate screw and wedges; some people combine wheels and gears. Show students the pictures and see if students can name where they have seen some of these. || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[[file:Bicycle Label pre post test machines.docx]]
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explore Levers ** || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">What hands-on, shared experiences of the phenomenon are appropriate? Representations?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Show or demonstrate a lever. Ask students what they think a lever is used for (lifting heavy objects).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain that a lever has three parts, but the most important part is the //fulcrum//, which is the part everything else moves around. In a see-saw lever, the fulcrum is in the middle
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Run the experiment from [|here]so students can see how levers make lifting heavy objects easier.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Bring out in discussion that levers give you an advantage because pushing downward is easier than pulling upward.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Students to write the definition of a lever in their book and draw an example of a lever - labeling the fulcrum and the load.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explore moving the fulcrum closer to the effort or closer to the load, and see how this affects the amount of effort needed to lift the load.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Bring out in discussion that a lever does not actually make the load and lighter; the advantage is that you aren’t working against gravity, and you can use more of your body weight to push downward. || [|Cyberchase on Levers]

Decided to get a large plank of wood and create a scenario with a fulcrum a heavy load and used the plank as the lever. AH was able to come up with the fact that it is easier to push down than lift up. NW then mentioned that this was helped by gravity.

Looked further about the size of the fulcrum and related it to Trebuchets which really engaged the students. || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Extension <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Extension ||  || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Extension ||  || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Extension <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">This page explains Mechanical Advantage. It’s complicated, but kids might get the general idea. ||  ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explore Wheel and Axle ** || * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Display a range of objects with wheels (toy cars, picture of a wheelbarrow, skateboard etc). Ask students what the objects have in common.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Ask students what they think wheels are used for in terms of making work easier.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain that a wheel on its own is not very useful: a wheel becomes a machine when it is connected to an axle (a thinner shaft through the centre of the wheel)
 * Watch this [|video]that demonstrates a wheel and axle and introduces the relationship between a wheel and a pulley.
 * Students to draw and label a picture of a wheel and axle in their books.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Students to find as many different types of wheel & axle pictures in magazines (Cut & Paste)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain the concept of friction: objects that rub together slow down. Move objects along different surfaces (carpet, concrete, grass, sandpaper etc) and compare how hard or easy it is to move them.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Have students explain the mechanical advantage of wheels in terms of friction (wheels give you an advantage because they spin instead of rubbing, so friction is reduced) ||  || Students were able to list a number of common wheels and Axles. They were surprised to know that a door handle was also a wheel & axle. ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explore Pulleys ** || * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Show or demonstrate a pulley. Ask students what they think a pulley is used for (lifting objects up to a higher place).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain that a pulley is related to the wheel and axle – the machine contains a small wheel, which the rope goes around.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Discuss how a pulley might make moving objects up and down easier. (In reality, a simple pulley with only one wheel doesn’t give a mechanical advantage – lifting becomes easier only because pulling down is easier than lifting up.)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">The pulley is also sometimes called a block and tackle.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Watch the pulley [|video]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Create the Flag Raiser to demonstrate how a pulley works
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Run the tug of war experiment to show how pulleys can make our life easier
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Students to draw and label a pulley in their books.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explore multi-wheel pulleys. Determine whether or not a pulley becomes more effective when more than one wheel is used.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Determine what the trade-off is when using a pulley (effort is traded for increased distance – when you lift an object using multi-wheel pulleys, you have to pull the rope further to lift the same distance). || [[file:Pulley.docx]]
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explore Inclined Plane & Screw ** || * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Display an inclined plane. Discuss with students how it can be considered a machine and what its purpose is.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Discuss where students have seen inclined planes in the school (slide, ramp, the tip truck delivering the wood chip for the playground).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Run an [|experiment]to compare moving an object with and without an inclined plane, up a rise. Have students discuss what the advantage of an inclined plane is and what the trade-off is (when using a ramp, you trade effort for increased distance – you have to walk or push further, but it is easier to do).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Students to write information about an inclined plane in their books. They should draw and label an example.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Display a screw. Discuss with students how it can be considered a machine and what it's purpose is.
 * Students to write the information about a screw in their books.
 * Conduct the [|Experiment]
 * Students to use a diagram to explain how a screw works.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Compare steeper and shallower slopes when moving an object up a rise. Discuss the difference. || [[file:Inclined Plane.docx]]
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explore Wedge ** || * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain that a wedge is like an inclined plane turned sideways, and that instead of staying still, it moves through something.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Ask students to think of examples of wedges and what they are used for (knife, axe, doorstop, nail, screw, letter-opener etc).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Students to write the info about a wedge into their book.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Teacher demonstrate [|experiment]to explore the usefulness of a wedge
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Students to draw and label an example of a wedge in their books.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain to students that the wedge is the least efficient simple machine. Have students discuss why this might be (the conventional answer is that because you are pushing downward into something, a lot of effort you put in is lost in friction. Students might come up with other reasonable answers) || [[file:Wedge.docx]] ||  ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain ** || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">What are the current scientific explanations? How best can the students represent their understanding?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain the scientific terms relating to machines:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Work **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">: the amount of energy/effort you put into moving something
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Load **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">: the weight or object you want to move
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Force **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">: the amount of push or pull a machine gives out
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Advantage **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">: the benefit to using machines: how a machine increases the **force** you get for the **work** you put in (the “bang for your buck”)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Discuss the simple machines students have explored. Bring out in discussion that machines do not actually reduce the amount of **effort** you put in, instead they either move it somewhere else (gear chains, for example) or increase the **force** you get out (levers, wheels etc).
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Assessment opportunity **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">: Have students use digital cameras to take pictures of simple machines in the school to create a triptych. They should write an explanation about how they work. Examples: the ramp, flagpole, hall main door (gears), bubbler levers, scissors, wheels etc. Some students will be able to write in terms of the scientific terms they have been exposed to. || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[]
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Elaborate ** || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">What student investigation/s or application of knowledge would extend their understanding? Representations?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Explain the concept of compound machines: more than one simple machine working together for a purpose. Have students think of, for example, where wheels and gears come together in a compound machine (bicycles, cars, clocks). List some other compound machines. Students to watch the teachers domain video of a student created Compound Machine.
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Assessment opportunity: **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Have students work in pairs to build a compound machine out of craft and recycled supplies. The machine does not need to have a practical purpose, however it must clearly demonstrate more than one type of simple machine working together. || [|Compound Machine] ||  ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Evaluate ** || <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">What do you want the students to know? What representations will provide evidence that they understand the concepts?
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Summative assessment **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">: Students to draw/label as many simple machines as they can. They should explain in writing how at least one of them gives a person a mechanical advantage. ||  ||   ||

=Web Resources= <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Pictures of several everyday objects that may or may not be simple machines. Useful for later in the unit to demonstrate that simple machines are all around us. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Flash object with great explanations of the simple machines. Explains mechanical advantage for each machine. At the bottom of the page, there is a link to a “find the simple machine” activity. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Fun little Flash game about identifying simple machines. Might be good for a computer room Science lesson one week. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Interactive simple machines quizzes and activities. Includes links to Youtube videos about each machine, friction, energy etc. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Video about the use of simple machines in building the Coral Castle – a giant building in Florida made entirely out of coral around 1918. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[|http://www.galaxy.net/~k12/machines/index.shtml] <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">Alternate experiments for the simple machines. Many of these are designed to be completed at home. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14px;">[|http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~mwampole/1-resources/simple-machines/index.html]

=Teacher Background Information= <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Information obtained from [|The Franklin Institute Resources for Science Learning] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In science, work is defined as force acting on an object to move it across a distance. Pushing, pulling, and lifting are common forms of work. Furniture movers do work when they move boxes. Gardeners do work when they pull weeds. Children do work when they go up and down on a see-saw. Machines make their work easier. The furniture movers use a ramp to slide boxes into a truck. The gardeners use a hand shovel to help break through the weeds. The children use a see-saw to go up and down. The ramp, the shovel, and the see-saw are simple machines. || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">A plane is a flat surface. For example, a smooth board is a plane. Now, if the plane is lying flat on the ground, it isn't likely to help you do work. However, when that plane is inclined, or slanted, it can help you move objects across distances. And, that's work! A common inclined plane is a ramp. Lifting a heavy box onto a loading dock is much easier if you slide the box up a ramp--a simple machine. Want to know more? Here's [|extra information]. || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Instead of using the smooth side of the inclined plane, you can also use the pointed edges to do other kinds of work. For example, you can use the edge to push things apart. Then, the inclined plane is a wedge. So, a wedge is actually a kind of inclined plane. An axe blade is a wedge. Think of the edge of the blade. It's the edge of a smooth slanted surface. That's a wedge! Want to know more? Here's [|extra information.] || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Now, take an inclined plane and wrap it around a cylinder. Its sharp edge becomes another simple tool: the screw. Put a metal screw beside a ramp and it's kind of hard to see the similarities, but the screw is actually just another kind of inclined plane. [|Try this demonstration] to help you visualize. How does the screw help you do work? Every turn of a metal screw helps you move a piece of metal through a wooden space. And, that's how we build things! Want to know more? Here's [|extra information] || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Try pulling a really stubborn weed out of the ground. You know, a deep, persistent weed that seems to have taken over your flowerbed. Using just your bare hands, it might be difficult or even painful. With a tool, like a hand shovel, however, you should win the battle. Any tool that pries something loose is a lever. A lever is an arm that "pivots" (or turns) against a "fulcrum" (or point). Think of the claw end of a hammer that you use to pry nails loose. It's a lever. It's a curved arm that rests against a point on a surface. As you rotate the curved arm, it pries the nail loose from the surface. And that's hard work! || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The rotation of the lever against a point pries objects loose. That rotation motion can also do other kinds of work. Another kind of lever, the wheel and axle, moves objects across distances. The wheel, the round end, turns the axle, the cylindrical post, causing movement. On a wagon, for example, the bucket rests on top of the axle. As the wheel rotates the axle, the wagon moves. Now, place your pet dog in the bucket, and you can easily move him around the yard. On a truck, for example, the cargo hold rests on top of several axles. As the wheels rotate the axles, the truck moves. || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Instead of an axle, the wheel could also rotate a rope or cord. This variation of the wheel and axle is the pulley. In a pulley, a cord wraps around a wheel. As the wheel rotates, the cord moves in either direction. Now, attach a hook to the cord, and you can use the wheel's rotation to raise and lower objects. On a flagpole, for example, a rope is attached to a pulley. On the rope, there are usually two hooks. The cord rotates around the pulley and lowers the hooks where you can attach the flag. Then, rotate the cord and the flag raises high on the pole. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">A machine is a tool used to make work easier. Simple machines are simple tools used to make work easier. Compound machines have two or more simple machines working together to make work easier.
 * [[image:2012-program-menne/incline_plane.png]] || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Inclined Plane **
 * [[image:2012-program-menne/wedge.png]] || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Wedge **
 * [[image:2012-program-menne/screw.png]] || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Screw **
 * [[image:2012-program-menne/lever.png]] || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Lever **
 * [[image:2012-program-menne/Wheel_and_Axle.png]] || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Wheel and Axle **
 * [[image:2012-program-menne/pulley.png]] || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Pulley **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">If two or more simple machines work together as one, they form a compound machine. Most of the machines we use today are compound machines, created by combining several simple machines. ||