The topic of Hilary’s project was Simple Machines, and the driving question was: How am I going to get this heavy box of books onto the top shelf?
Project Steps:
- Have ready a big box of books. Ask the students how to get this onto the top shelf without hurting themselves.
- Prepare six stations with equipment for each of the simple machines (see Simple Machines worksheet below). Ask the students to use the machines to answer the question for each machine. Do not give instructions on how to do this. Let them figure it out.
- After giving them plenty of time to do this, go over each station. Then ask them to figure out what they gained in each station (moving something more easily) and what they lost (usually distance moved).
- Finally return to the original question and ask them to give multiple answers.
- If students could not come to school, it might be possible for them to complete this project in their own homes and share their work online through video conferencing.
Students loved to solve the questions with the machines. They were totally engaged although sometimes their solutions were interesting. They were so excited when they got it “right” and so amazed at how much it changed the distance moved.
Hilary Villeneuve
Challenges:
The screw was not an easy one (see Simple Machines worksheet below). Hilary is still working on finding a good way to get the students to experience that.