Machines Kept Simple - Classroom Kit and Teacher Guide!

22 student lessons and teacher instructions about Simple Machines for the whole class, meeting the National Science Content standards B2 and B3! Some machines are quite complex, but without simple machines (like levers, pulleys, and wheels), life wouldn't be simple at all! This Seela Science Kit contains 22 exciting activities to get the "wheels turning" in the minds of future scientists, exploring the functions of simple machines. Your classroom kids will work with simple machines like the lever, the pulley, an inclined plane, a wedge, a wheel & axle, and a screw - and discover exactly how they work. You'll twist and roll and push and pull until you have a better understanding of how these simple machines make everyone's life easier.

Seela Science is a leading provider of high-quality supplemental science programs for elementary schools designed to meet standards and improve student mastery. Traditional textbooks are often limited in standards coverage, leaving gaps in your students' understanding. For example, a recent study in Virginia compared the contents of approved textbooks with eight state science standards. Two of the recommended textbooks covered only three state standards; the other textbook covered only two! Why not let your teachers spend time TEACHING, rather than searching for material to fill holes?

Machines Kept Simple Science Kit includes these lesson on Simple Machines:

General Information about Forces and Machines:
1. Belt Balancer - Concept: Torque - How can someone balance a belt with this piece of plastic? You've probably tried it and it didn't work! What the trick? Let's find out. Includes 11 additional classroom ideas.
2. Home-Made Bearing - Concept: Friction - Your bicycle and other vehicles with wheels move very smoothly, don't they? Have you ever wondered how they do this? Includes 13 additional classroom ideas.
3. Two Fingers & a Meter Stick - Concept: Torque and Friction - Learn about torque, force, gravity and center of gravity, T=FxD, equilibrium, unbalanced force, and more. Includes 11 additional classroom ideas.
4. Hand Held Helo - Concept: Forces & Motion - Can your hands fly you around the room? Of course not! But let's use your hands to make something fly by simply rubbing your hands! Includes 12 additional classroom ideas.
Wheel and Axle:
5. Wheel & Axle Cup Racer - Concept: Wheel and Axle - This is a race with your fingertips working like a "motor". Which paper cup "bucket" do you think is fastest. Includes 12 additional classroom ideas.
6. Pull a Pulley - Concept: Pulley - Another kind of a simple machine is a pulley. This activity lets you build a simple pulley and test it. Includes 15 additional classroom ideas.
7. Force of the Rope - Concept: Block & Tackle - Can one person keep two people form pulling a pair of broomsticks apart? This could be fun! Study mechanical advantage, block and tackle, compound and simple machines, more! Includes 11 additional classroom ideas.
8. Stringalong Science - Concept: Rotational Force (Yo-Yo) - Most of us have played with a yo-yo. But there's great science going on with this toy! How does it work and what's happening? Includes 10 additional classroom ideas.
9. Twisting Gears - Concept: Gears as Wheel and Axle - Look closely at a bicycle and observe those wheels and teeth near the pedals and by the back wheels. Study mechanical advantage, simple and compound machines, direction of force, so much more! Includes 12 additional classroom ideas.
10. Racing Bowls - Concept: Wheel, Axle, and Mass - Who needs racing horses when there's Racing Bowls? Learn about potential energy, center of rotation, rotational kinetic energy, and the Law of Conservation of Energy. Includes 13 additional classroom ideas.
11. Fingertip Windmill - Concept: Windmill Wheel & Axle - Wind is not just for making kites fly, drying your cloths, or for airplanes to use! What else can it be used for? Includes 13 additional classroom ideas.
12. Twist and Turn - Concept: Wheel and Axle Toy - Tools and machines make the force put into them go in a different direction than originally given to it. With this toy we'll explore more about moving things. Includes 10 additional classroom ideas.
Wedge:
13. Wood Splitter - Concept: Wedge - Hold up a screwdriver and a piece of wooden dowel. You're going to cut this dowl in half with the screwdriver. Really? Cool. Includes 10 additional classroom ideas.
14. Pencil Wedge - Concept: Wedge as a Cutter - Did you know your pencil sharpener's a machine? There's no motor, but it's a machine! Includes 10 additional classroom ideas.
15. Zipper Zipping - Concept: Zipper and Wedge - Zippers are taken for granted. They are simple little devices on your backpacks, bags, and clothing which make opening and closing fast and simple! But just how do they work? Includes 12 additional classroom ideas.
Lever:
16. Air Bag Teeter-Totter - Concept: Lever - Does air have weight? How does it move? What happens when air gets warm or cold? All great questions you might find answers to with this cool activity. Includes 10 additional classroom ideas.
17. Roller Pennies - Concept: Lever - Have you ever played "teeter-totter" with Roller Pennies and "balanced" your budget? Study levers, torque, fulcrum, force and weight, and simple machines. Includes 13 additional classroom ideas.
18. Classy Levers - Concept: Types of Levers - Did you know there were different lever classes? There's First Class, Second Class, Third Class levers! Study fulcrum, load, effort, friction, and so much more! Includes 9 additional classroom ideas.
Screw/Inclined Plane:
19. Pencil Wrap - Concept: Screw and Inclined Plane - Let's get "wrapped up" in simple machines and do a Pencil Wrap! Study force-multiplier, mechanical advantage, inclined planes, simple machines, MA=length of slope/height of slope, and more! Includes 10 additional classroom ideas.
20. Hardware Hands - Concept: Screw and Inclined Plane - Some people are very "handy"! Are you? Let's study mechanical advantage, simple machines, lever, force, inclined planes, resistance force, actual effort force, actual and ideal mechanical advantage, more! Includes 10 additional classroom ideas.
Cumulative Assessment:
21. House Full of Machines - Concept: Assessment - Follow ALL instruction your teacher gives you! Let's be careful with tools and simple machines, it wont do any good to learn something and get hurt doing it! Includes 11 additional classroom ideas.
22. Machine ID - Concept: Assessment - We've seen and used simple tools before. Perhaps you've used a hammer, a screwdriver, or even a can opener! Well, these are machines we use to let us do things easier! Includes 12 additional classroom ideas.