MINDSET

This Performance Assessment is designed to:

• encourage students to apply their knowledge of simple machines through creating real-life scenarios in which simple machines are used to perform tasks.
• promote problem-solving skills by encouraging students to find appropriate solutions to problems.
• reinforce the concept that simple machines make work feel easier.
• assess students’ understanding that the lever makes work feel easier by allowing a lesser force to be applied over a greater distance or having a greater force applied over a smaller distance.
• assess students’ understanding that the pulley makes work feel easier by reversing the direction of the applied force.
• assess students’ ability to apply the formula Work = Force x distance.

Students problem-solving skills incorporate:

• Science: understanding mechanical force, work, and mechanical advantage.
• Technology: construction and testing of inclined planes and their impact on effort and work.
• Math: application of geometry of right triangles and the hypotenuse of right triangles.