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Machines and Tools - Grades 5 and 6
 Knowledge
Goal: Students will be introduced to the concept of "engineering" through the use of simple machines and other familiar objects.
Activity: Bring in a simple machine or tool to display to the class (i.e., a hand tool, power tool, kitchen tool, automobile jack, etc.) Demonstrate how the machine works. Ask your students if they can describe the operation of these common devices. IN addition to the actual machines, it would be useful to show illustrations of other simple machines. Ask your students to determine what it is that various kinds of machines are able to do. After they have determined the purpose, ask them to examine each machine carefully and discuss its design. Ask the students to write an outline describing the design of the machine.
- Comprehension
Goal: Students will identify objects as having been "engineered."
Activity: Set up cooperative learning groups with three to four students. Instruct each student group to identify a simple machine or tool used in the classroom (i.e., scissor - two inclined planes), school building (i.e., window shade - pulley), or playground (i.e., swing - pendulum), which have been "engineered." Use the student activity "Machines and Tools" to help illustrate the examples above. (Slide - Inclined Plane; Seesaw - Lever; Swing - Pendulum).
- Application
Goal: Students will define a problem in the classroom and "engineer" a solution.
Activity: Students should now view the educational videotape, "Engineering Is For Everyone." (To order the video, "Engineering Is For Everyone" call 1-800-THE-ASME.) Stop the video at the section where words are defined (i.e., aerodynamics). Ask students to brainstorm other words which sound difficult but actually define easy concepts. Stop the tape again at the section covering food creation and paper manufacturing. Discuss with the class other things engineers have created to package or produce a product (i.e., milking machines). Students should then be encouraged to look carefully at the last section of the video in which young people display and explain their inventions. Your students can use these later as models for their own creations.
Students will then go to work in their cooperative learning groups. Instruct the class to look around the room for a process which could be made easier with "engineering." After the problem has been defined, each group will describe, diagram and (as time allows) construct their invention.
An interesting class project might be to design classroom desks that are more flexible to use. The class should first determine the various arrangements of desks to facilitate different learning environments. For example, desks need to be arranged for small group work, individual work, whole class demonstrations, whole class lectures, etc.
In this type of design activity, students can be grouped into "design teams" once the entire class has agreed on design criteria and constraints. Each design team should work with scale models to try out alternative design options. The design teams can then present their ideas to the entire class for feedback.
- Analysis
Goal: Students will identify simple and complex machines.
Activity: Display a variety of "simple machines" (level, pulley, etc.) for class discussion. Ask your students to describe how these machines work and what purpose they serve. Then arrange for a class visit to the library or a computer lab with access to the internet. Working in groups - and using books, filmstrips, videotapes, websites - the students will investigate: (1) Why the machines were created; (2) What function they serve; (3) Ways in which they could be improved. Prior to the library visit or internet search, show your students the handout "Flight Through Time." Discuss the engineering improvements that took place over the years. The two most significant, continuing improvements, were streamlining the creating more powerful engines. These led of aircraft capable of greater speed.
As enrichment, ask your students to look at the last statement on the timeline regarding nonstop flights. Ask them to determine the average speed (miles flown divided by hours of each flight). They can use their calculators if they choose. It is interesting to note that the difference in speed is minimal. Students can do further research of the two planes on the internet or at the library.
Students should discuss the process of a machine evolving from simple to complex. An excellent reference for this activity is David Macaulay's book "The Way Things Work," published by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. This book is a visual guide to the world of machines.
- Synthesis
Goal: Students will create their own engineering investigations.
Activity: Your students will return to their groups to evaluate their engineering solutions based on the new information they have gained through their research. Here, they can choose the option of "re-engineering" their original designs, or creating an entirely new design. Your role will not be to facilitate the creation of the actual "machines" by providing the student groups with advice and materials. Students in each group will designate some members as "engineers" and others as "art designers" who will create the illustrative diagrams documenting the development process which their group utilized. The groups will then share their diagrams and actual inventions with the class, describing the thinking and development process that went into their creations.
- Evaluation
Goal: Students will organize an "Engineering Fair" to display their inventions to others.
Activity: Help your students prepare for an Engineering Fair. Invitations should be created and sent out to other classes. Students are then to prepare their presentations for the other classes.
When the other classes arrive, show the videotape, "Engineering Is For Everyone." (To order the video, "Engineering Is For Everyone" call 1-800-THE-ASME.) Your students should explain to these other classes how they have learned about engineering and the tremendous amount of products and machines that are created by engineers. Then the illustrative designs should be shown, with each student group explaining the thought process which led to the engineering of their invention.
As an added enrichment project for this program, we have included the student activity "Create An Engineering Alphabet." While students are working in cooperative learning groups, ask them to create their own Engineering Alphabets. Keep in mind that almost everything that is not animal, vegetable, or mineral has been "engineered." When their new "alphabets" have been completed, each group can: (1) illustrate five of the new alphabet words; (2) create a word search using their new engineering words for the class to complete; (3) use their dictionaries or the internet to complete definitions of these new words.
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