Simple Machines Centres

We have been learning about Simple Machines. The six different simple machines are: wedge, screw, incline plane, lever, wheel and axel, and pulley. We can group them into two groups: levers, wheel and axel, and pulleys, and incline planes, wedges, and screws. A wedge is two incline planes put together and a screw is an incline plane wrapped around a rod.

Yesterday, we explored different centres that were all about levers. We also watched this video to learn more!

"Yesterday in one of the groups, we learned about a load, effort, and fulcrum." ~ Bianca
"In one of the groups, we learned about first, second, and third class levers. An example of each would be a seesaw, wheelbarrow, and stapler." ~ K
"A first class lever is a reclining chair." ~ Jaxton
"A first class lever is a seesaw. It can also be described by having a fulcrum in the middle." ~ D
"The closer the fulcrum is to the load, it is way easier to lift! I know this because I tested it yesterday by moving the fulcrum closer to the load and it worked. If you move the fulcrum away from the load, it's tougher." ~ Desiree
"Another centre we went to had tweezers and tongs. We were picking up erasers. We found that when we moved our fingers closer to the load, it was easier to lift the eraser. If our hands were on the back, it was much harder." ~ Jasper
"At the centre that we were using tongs and tweezers, it was easier to pick the erasers up with tongs because they are wider than the tweezers." ~ Owen

Here, we are sorting first, second, and third class levers.

This is the centre where we used tongs and tweezers to lift erasers.

We are testing how much effort it takes to lift the book when we move the fulcrum.