Learning material

Class Set Simple Machines
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Playful teaching of basic mechanical and technical principles

We encounter simple machines everywhere in our everyday lives. They help us to carry out work with as little effort as possible. The basic mechanical and technical principles and interactions of forces are taught using clear models that are easy to set up. By exploring these principles and practical examples, what we have learned is consolidated in a playful way. The crowning glory of the construction kit is a machine for passing a ball, in which the whole class is involved with various modules and in which the principles learned are combined with building and playing fun. This promotes social and fine motor skills at the same time.

Number of students
Up to 30 pupils per kit
Learning objectives
Familiarization with basic mechanical and technical principles
Time required
Each task contains detailed time information for lesson structuring
Grade level
Primary level
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Didactic material

Didactic material

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Topics and learning objectives
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  • Subject areas

    Content-related skills:

    • Simple mechanisms with everyday relevance. Joints and hinges, pawls in many forms and applications, lever mechanisms, leverage, swivel levers, several coupled levers, eccentrics, spring mechanisms, springs as energy storage, pulleys and pulley blocks, linear movements, scales.
     

  • Learning objectives

     

    Process-related skills:

    • Problem solving/ being creative.

    Mathematical skills:

    • Prenumeracy (sorting, ordering), logical and strategic thinking.

    Personal and social skills:

    • Finding a solution together as a team.

    Linguistic communication skills:

    • Elaboration of technical terms.

  • Time required

    As a rule, it should be possible to deal with individual topics within one lesson. The time required for experimentation, evaluation and discussion is estimated at approx. 45 minutes.

    Further infomation

     

    Introduction to the topic
    The Simple Machines class set provides low-threshold access to important mechanical principles and their physical effects for primary school science lessons. Everyday technical functional areas are constructed and explored in a playful and practical way and encourage reflection. Independently or in teams, pupils build simple and more sophisticated machines, automatons, tools and physical models. Process-related skills are promoted by solving problems, in-depth research and suggestions for creative changes to the models.
    The fun of tinkering and the joy of perfectly functioning mechanics are just as important elements as the playful development of relevant technical terms using a variety of tasks and their solution examples. By working with the simple machines, the subject lessons help pupils to perceive their environment differently and to recognize the operating principles of simple machines as a pattern in the many everyday applications.

    Mechanical basics
    Using the example of various door constructions, the basics of mechanics can be explored in a playful way, everyday references can be made and technical solutions to problems can be reflected upon. Various scales are used to investigate weighing as a way of measuring and comparing and lever mechanics. The acquired knowledge is gradually supplemented and deepened using a crane model. 

    Joint project “Ball transfer”
    Ball transfer models are used to work out and compare different mechanical solutions for the same task. At the same time, the pupils' personal and social skills are encouraged in the form of teamwork, as the different modules can be combined to form a machine of any length. This creates an impressive joint and final project for the whole class.

    What are simple machines?

    The term “simple machines” (also referred to as force-saving, force-converting or labour-saving machines) covers tools or mechanical devices that are used to convert a force or optimize the effect of a force. Examples of simple machines are the rope, the lever, the pulley and the inclined plane (wedge), which occur in some combination in almost every power machine. [1]
    This results in a wide variety of topics that can be easily explored by pupils in a fun way. The task sheets are formulated in a skills-oriented way in accordance with the educational plans. The aim is to control, reflect on and evaluate one's own thinking when solving problems and thus build up new knowledge. Problems should be recognized and problem-solving strategies developed and applied.

    • Joints and hinges: How can something be pivoted and hinged?
    • Pawls in many forms and applications: How can something be prevented from moving in the wrong direction?
    • Lever mechanisms: Experiencing the effect of levers, pivoting levers, several coupled levers.
    • Eccentric: Converting a rotary motion into a back and forth motion, demonstrated using different scenarios.
    • Spring-loaded mechanisms: resetting mechanisms using spring force, springs as energy stores - demonstrated in natural and easy-to-understand model situations.
    • model situations.
    • Wire rope hoists and pulley blocks - to be tried out step by step in various stages of expansion.
    • Linear movements along guide rails.

    If we look around a little, we see simple and complex mechanisms almost everywhere. They play a major, albeit often unrecognized or hidden, role in the world we live in. From simple levers to the mechanics in a room door, from cranes to diverse, sophisticated mechanical solutions for one and the same task. The reason why the examination of simple machines is justified is due to the high relevance to the living world and the culturally anchored knowledge associated with them. [2]

    Basics

    The following topics and technical terms are covered with the application models:

    • Joints
    • Crank drives
    • Gear drives
    • Lever mechanisms
    • Rope drums and rope hoists
    • Pulleys
    • Pawls
    • Scales
    • Spring elements

    All models are kept as simple as possible - the constructions are designed to be built, tested and explored within one lesson. There is plenty of room to get to know even complicated-sounding mechanisms such as the four-bar linkage or a linear feed.

    History
    Mechanical constructions have existed since time immemorial, from simple levers to the invention of the wheel and increasingly complex machines. Even in ancient times, pulleys, levers and corrugated wheels were combined with ropes to create lifting tools and crane-like constructions. These were mainly used in construction. The principle of the pulley block was already known in Greece around 700 BC, and the lever had been around since time immemorial. Archimedes (287-212 BC) formulated the so-called laws of the lever. In antiquity, the first empirical experiences were also systematized with the help of geometry, mathematics and a wealth of inventive genius, understood better and better and used for purposes that can hardly be counted to this day.
    Heron of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician and engineer of the first century AD, described the wheel, pulley, lever, wedge and screw as elements of simple machines in his writings. Forgotten in the Middle Ages, his text was rediscovered in an Arabic translation during the Renaissance. The engineers of that era added the inclined plane to the simple machines. What they have in common is that they are the basic building blocks of all more complex machine mechanics - today, however, we would rather call them machine elements. They seem almost trivial in the information age. And yet they are the foundation on which technical civilization was built. [3]
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