Simple Machines & a Pinball

Today I worked with a group of grade 3's from an awesome school in Mill Park. I've been working with this school for some time and its great to be able to get into the classroom and practice (and improve) my teaching. One of my mentors is a great teacher and provides me with some great opportunities to explore my learning through engaging with his class.

Today's lesson was about simple machines, so I got the students to stand up and use their hips to bend over, a bit like doing a stretch... students were surprised to learn that they were creating a lever, with the fulcrum at the hip. This was a great way to start the session and have students focus on the topic.

Simple Machine Kits

Whilst the students are learning 7 simple machines (Wedge, Inclined Plane, Lever, Pulley, Wheel and Axle, Screw and Gears), today's lesson focused on the 5 machines that were in the Simple Machine Kits at the school.

As you can see by the powerpoint presentation, the first part of the lesson was a quick game of Guess that Machine - students were shown an image of the 5 machines and asked to identify which machine it was. The picture below shows the 5 images they were shown.

Next the students were asked some critical questions about working in groups, because of the research I am undertaking I wanted to determine if being explicit about collaboration skills would enhance the learning in the lesson and improve my ability to teach these skills. What was interesting was that students too a moment to responde to the question:

What do you like other people to do when working in groups?

I'd like to reflect on this a bit more at a later stage, but I think most students are used to explaining appropriate behaviors with group work, but this question specifically focused on their needs.

Students were then asked to work in teams and construct the 5 machines - there were only enough parts at each of the 4 stations for the 5 machines to be constructed, which meant students were unable to construct two of the same machine - this presented some problems when they tried to do this... but the end result was that students had to communicate and work together in order to get the machines constructed. Most students were really engaged in working together to construct their machines and really proud of their achievements once completed. I worked my way around the room, asking critical questions like:

What happens when you change the position of the fulcrum on the lever?
What happens when the slope of the inclined plane is changed?

Following this part of the lesson, students were asked to sit back at the front and we talked about how we use multiple simple machines to make complex machines. A screw is a more complex machine because it combines an inclined plane and a wedge.  We spoke about the next activity which was to make a complex machine out of wood, nails, screws, pegs and rubber bands.... and a marble?

I had constructed a number of Pinball Prototype boards that students could use to build their own pinball machine. Students had a great time exploring the construction process and I think by working through the process and then experimenting with the positioning of barriers, students would have practically understood a number of physical science outcomes.

Watch the clip of the pinball machine prototyping board in action.

IN a future blog, I'll describe how to create the prototyping boards.

Some useful links:
Marvellous Machines - Lesson Plan
New Pedagogy For Deep Learning Framework
The 6Cs of 21st Century Learning