Middle Schoolers Design Simple Machines!
The 8th grade Honors Physical Science students have been busy this week designing and constructing a series of simple machines.
Their project aims to have their machine provide an overall function related to the movement of an object.
“This project focuses on creativity, effort, neatness, design, construction, and application of scientific knowledge,” said science teacher Tom Warburton, “it also focuses on student-driven learning of the unit content”.
Students assembled into teams, working together to accomplish the interactive assignment allowing for creativity as well as peer interaction.
When asked what they learned through this project that they didn’t know before, the students had a lot to say.
“We have learned how pulleys work,” said Julia Herd. While Harris Wilson said, “We learned that an inclined plane can act as a slide.”
They also learned that as a team, they can create a simple machine that works when their knowledge is put together. “Our machine", said Ethan Gawryluk, “is built so that the marble will go into the hole, drop down, follow the scope, hit dominos, and then pop a balloon with a screw!”
Students not only learned new terms and applications through this project, they were also able to put their newfound knowledge into action.