You’re not lazy… you’re smart!
Since the dawn of time, humans have built tools to increase their strength and reduce their effort.
Discover with us the families of simple machines (lever, inclined plane, pulley, winch, screw, wedge).
In the 60-minute workshop, students build a lever and use a spring scale to compare how well different set-ups lift a 1 kg load, as part of a real scientific study. Your little Newtons must work out which lever position wins the fight against gravity.
In the 75-minute workshop, students experiment to find which simple machine lifts a 1 kg mass most efficiently: the lever or the pulley? To find out, they build different combinations of pulleys and compare their results with the lever’s.
Time to make your hypotheses!
Learning goals (elementary)
- Identify simple machines and recognize what they are used for (lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley, winch, wheel).
- Describe how simple machines change the effort needed.
- Describe the effect of a force on a structure.
- Use levers and pulleys to lift a load.
- Use measuring tools (spring scale).
