BE PREPARED

Materials

Class materials:

Students will need any supplies that can be used to design a situation that utilizes a simple machine, such as:

• clay
• gram bears
• gram cubes
• 10 g, 20 g, 50 g, 100 g masses
• metric rulers
• meter sticks
• plastic containers
• plastic lids
• play dough
• prisms
• pulleys
• spring scales
• string
• triple beam balances
• wood blocks

Individual materials

• Student Data Record
• Calculator

TEACHER PREPARATION

1. Organize the required materials at a distribution point.

2. Separate the class into pairs.

INSTRUCTION

Direct students to use the materials available to them at the distribution point to participate in this Performance Assessment.

PROCEDURE

Briefly outline the goals of this project to the class. Read aloud the goals from the list on the Scientist Data Record.

Before students begin their Performance Assessment, walk to them and briefly review the four components of the experiment, clearing up any questions in advance:

• Design a real-life scenario in which you could use a simple machine to perform a job.
• Decide how to model the situation using the tools available to you.
• Determine whether the simple machine offers any advantage in the scenario, and explain your conclusions.
• Calculate the work you perform when using the simple machine in the scenario.

Allow students to complete their Performance Assessments. You may wish to informally or formally evaluate students as they work on their Performance Assessments. An evaluation rubric for the Performance Assessment has been provided to aid in the evaluation process.

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1. Ask students to design a real-life scenario in which they could use a simple machine. Have them record the scenario in Problem 1 of their Student Data Record.

2. Tell students to use the materials provided and model the scenario they developed. When modeling, they should use a simple machine to perform the task they developed. Tell students to describe, through writing or drawing a picture, how they modeled the scenario.

3. Tell students to determine whether the simple machine offers any advantage when used to perform the task they designed. Ask them to record and explain their conclusions in Problem 3 of their Student Data Records. They may wish to include a Table to organize their data.

4. Finally, ask students to calculate the work performed when using the simple machine in their scenario. Ask them to record their data in Problem 4 of their Student Data Record.

CLEAN UP

Let students know your expectations and instruct them to clean up their lab bench after the Performance Assessment.