It's a Fixer-Upper

Overview:

The students will be improving the design of an old house/mall/school/castle by designing and constructing a device that will allow accessibility from one floor to the other so that it fulfills the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and can be sold. In order to prepare for this inquiry, the teacher needs to lay the groundwork on topics like the pulley system and the gear system. This inquiry will create an appreciation for the applications of pulleys and gears in our everyday lives.

Grade Level: 4

Strand and Topic: Understanding Structures and Mechanism: Pulleys and Gears

Inquiry Focus:

How do pulleys and gears help make our lives easier?

pulley / gear / force / speed

Note that the time required depends on students’ background knowledge, skills set, and level of interest. Additional time may be required for completion of student work.

Big Ideas:

  • Pulleys and gears change the speed, direction, and motion of, and force exerted on, moving objects.
  • Pulleys and gears make it possible for a small input force to generate a large output force. (Note: Grade 4 students need to understand mechanical advantage only in its qualitative sense).
  • Gears are specialized wheels and axles that are used daily in many machines.

Overall Expectations:

Science and Technology

  1. evaluate the impact of pulleys and gears on society and the environment
  2. investigate ways in which pulleys and gears modify the speed and direction of, and the force exerted on, moving objects
  3. demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles and functions of pulley systems and gear systems

The Arts: Drama

  • B1. Creating and Presenting: apply the creative process (see pages 19–22) to dramatic play and process drama, using the elements and conventions of drama to communicate feelings, ideas, and stories

Social Studies: A. Heritage and Identity: Early Societies, 3000 BCE–1500 CE

  • A3. Understanding Context: demonstrate an understanding of key aspects of a few early societies (3000 BCE–1500 CE), each from a different region and era and representing a different culture, with reference to their political and social organization, daily life, and relationships with the environment and with each other

Mathematics: Measurement

-estimate, measure, and record length, perimeter, area, mass, capacity, volume, and elapsed time, using a variety of strategies

Mathematics:Geometry and Spatial Sense

-construct three-dimensional figures, using two-dimensional shapes

Language: Oral Communication

  1. listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes
  2. use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes

Language: Reading

  1. read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning

Language: Writing

  1. generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience

Language: Media Literacy

  1. create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques

Specific Expectations:

Science and Technology

  • 1.2 assess the environmental impact of using machines with pulleys and gears, taking different perspectives into account (e.g., the perspectives of a car driver or cyclist, someone who is physically challenged, the owner of a multifloor building), and suggest ways to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive impacts
  • 2.1 follow established safety procedures for working with machinery
  • 2.2 use scientific inquiry/experimentation skills (see page 12) to investigate changes in force, distance, speed, and direction in pulley and gear systems
  • 2.3 use technological problem-solving skills (see page 16) to design, build, and test a pulley or gear system that performs a specific task
  • 2.4 use appropriate science and technology vocabulary, including pulley, gear, force, and speed, in oral and written communication
  • 3.1 describe the purposes of pulley systems and gear systems
  • 3.3 describe how one type of motion can be transformed into another type of motion using pulleys or gears
  • 3.5 distinguish between pulley systems and gear systems that increase force and those that increase speed
  • 3.6 identify pulley systems (e.g., clotheslines, flagpoles, cranes, elevators, farm machinery) and gear systems (e.g., bicycles, hand drills, can openers) that are used in daily life, and explain the purpose and basic operation of each
  • 3.7 explain how the gear system on a bicycle works
  • 3.8 identify the input components that drive a mechanism and the output components that are driven by it

The Arts:Drama

  • B1.4 communicate thoughts, feelings, and ideas to a specific audience, using audio, visual, and/or technological aids to enhance their drama work

Social Studies: A. Heritage and Identity: Early Societies, 3000 BCE–1500 CE

  • A3.2 demonstrate the ability to extract information on daily life in early societies from visual evidence

Mathematics: Measurement

-estimate, measure, and record the mass of objects (e.g., apple, baseball, book), using the standard units of the kilogram and the gram

-estimate, measure, and record length, height, and distance, using standard units (i.e., millimetre, centimetre, metre, kilometre)

-describe, through investigation, the relationship between various units of length (i.e., millimetre, centimetre, decimetre, metre, kilometre)

-determine, through investigation, the relationship between grams and kilograms

-determine, through investigation, the relationship between millilitres and litres

Mathematics: Geometry and Spatial Sense

-construct a three-dimensional figure from a picture or model of the figure, using connecting cubes (e.g., use connecting cubes to construct a rectangular prism)

Language: Oral Communication

  • 1.2 demonstrate an understanding of appropriate listening behaviour by adapting active listening strategies to suit a variety of situations, including work in groups
  • 1.6 extend understanding of oral texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights; to other texts, including print and visual texts; and to the world around them
  • 2.2 demonstrate an understanding of appropriate speaking behaviour in a variety of situations, including paired sharing and small- and large-group discussions
  • 2.3 communicate in a clear, coherent manner, presenting ideas, opinions, and information in a readily understandable form
  • 2.6 identify some non-verbal cues, including facial expression, gestures, and eye contact, and use them in oral communications, appropriately and with sensitivity towards cultural differences, to help convey their meaning
  • 2.7 use a variety of appropriate visual aids (e.g., CDs or DVDs, computer-generated graphic organizers, concrete materials, artefacts) to support or enhance oral presentations

Language: Reading

  • 1.4 demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details
  • 1.6 extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them

Language:Writing

  • 1.2 generate ideas about a potential topic using a variety of strategies and resources
  • 1.3 gather information to support ideas for writing using a variety of strategies and oral, print, and electronic sources

Language: Media Literacy

  • 3.1 describe in detail the topic, purpose, and audience for media texts they plan to create
  • 3.4 produce media texts for specific purposes and audiences, using a few simple media forms and appropriate conventions and techniques

Key Concepts:

Pulleys and gears can transfer motion from one object to another, transform one kind of motion into another, change the speed and direction of an object’s motion, and change the amount of force needed to move an object.

Prior Skill Sets:

The students should be familiar with the skills for investigating and researching from the previous grades and/or units. Similarly, the students should be familiar with the safety procedures for handling tools and materials, as well as have some knowledge of designing, building and testing devices.

Prior Knowledge:

Grade 2: Movement (Structures and Mechanisms)

  • 3.3 identify the six basic types of simple machines – lever; inclined plane; pulley; wheel and axle, including gear; screw; and wedge – and give examples of ways in which each is used in daily life to make tasks easier
  • 3.4 describe how each type of simple machine allows humans to move objects with less force than otherwise would be needed
  • 3.5 identify simple machines used in devices that move people

Grade 3: Forces Causing Movement (Matter and Energy)

  • 3.1 identify a force as a push or a pull that causes an object to move
  • 3.3 describe how different forces (e.g., magnetism, muscular force, gravitational force, friction) applied to an object at rest can cause the object to start, stop, attract, repel, or change direction
  • 3.4 explain how forces are exerted through direct contact (e.g., pushing a door, pulling a toy) or through interaction at a distance

Grade 3: Mathematics (Measurement)

-estimate, measure, and record length, height, and distance, using standard units (i.e., centimetre, metre, kilometre)

-estimate, measure, and record the mass of objects (e.g., can of apple juice, bag of oranges, bag of sand), using the standard unit of the kilogram or parts of a kilogram

-estimate, measure, and record the capacity of containers (e.g., juice can, milk bag), using the standard unit of the litre or parts of a litre

Materials and Equipment:

  • word list of objects that use simple machines for charades (ex: can opener, stairs, etc)
  • camera
  • pencil and paper
  • pictures contraptions that use pulleys and gears (and what it previously would have been in the past ex: horse vs bicycle)
  • computer
  • projector/SMARTboard
  • internet access
  • push pin/thumb tack for bulletin board
  • post-its
  • timer or online stopwatch (
  • dowels
  • gears (or if resources are lacking, basswood/jinx wood/polyboards, rulers, mitre boxes, hand-drills, glue, scissors)
  • rulers
  • string
  • pulleys (or DIY pulleys using bottle caps/plywood and sandpaper), glue, pictures of old fixer-upper buildings, LEGO/shoe boxes (or other kinds of boxes)

Safety:

A hands-on approach is important in the teaching and learning of science. Therefore, possible risks may not be entirely eliminated, but procedures and techniques may be modified to create a safe learning environment. The teacher must ensure that students understand potential dangers (tell them each safety consideration and ask them why it is important to observe them).

Safety Considerations:

- Instruct students not to use tools or materials for their unintended purpose, and not to use them without teacher approval

- Check to ensure that pulley systems are firmly attached to a secure support before operating them

- Refer to STAO Elementary Safety Resource ( for Safety Considerations in Investigating Materials and Simple Machines (pg. 60-68), as well as Designing, Building and Constructing (pg. 72-80)

Instructional Planning and Delivery:

The instructional delivery of this inquiry moves from the teacher-directed Guided inquiry to Coupled inquiry. If there is more time, then an Open inquiry is possible as an Extension/Application.

Ongoing assessment is important. If each day is not feasible, at least have students write a journal entry after each activity as part of Assessment as learning.

The inquiry process is: Engage -> Explore -> Explain -> Extend -> Evaluate

Type / Structured or Directed / Guided / Coupled / Open or Full
Participant / Teacher Initiated and Performed / Teacher Initiated, Students Performed / Teacher Initiated / Student Initiated

Path to Inquiry

Engage (I SEE): Activate students’ prior knowledge and interest in the subject

The students’ background knowledge and prior experience with simple machines will play a large role in their comfort level with the topic. The activity in Engage is used as a springboard into the the inquiry. To stimulate the thinking of students (I WONDER), there is also a stage for Questioning: Brainstorming on the topic. Have a Question matrix ( somewhere visible to the students (Language Arts board if your classroom has one) as a reference when they are trying to formulate their own questions.

Be aware that the students will have questions during discussions, as well as questions that will come up when students are doing an activity.

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Activity 1: Introduction to Topic

- Tools: post-it notes, word list of objects that use simple machines for charades (ex: can opener, stairs, etc.), camera/pencil and paper, pictures contraptions that use pulleys and gears (and what it previously would have been in the past ex: horse vs bicycle), computer, projector/SMARTboard, internet access, push pin/thumb tack for bulletin board

Hook: Have the students play charades. Students are divided into groups and guess the items (the category would be that students are acting out objects that use gears and pulleys)

With the whole class, the teacher then asks the students what category they think the charades were (gears and pulleys). The teacher then points out obvious pulley and gear systems in the classroom (the curtains if it uses pulleys or a flagpole, and to have a reason to bring a can opener, bring a canned good to open; If there is an elevator, the teacher can start the introduction there)

- What simple machine is used? What is the object’s purpose? How does the simple machine help the object fulfill that purpose? Based on the object’s purpose, how are pulleys and gears different? What forces are present in the situation? How do those forces help/finder the purpose of the object?

Social Studies connection: Teacher then prints pictures of past and present pulley/gear systems (horse vs bicycle, ladder vs elevator, hand drill vs hammer, can opener vs knife) and posts them around the room in a gallery walk. Students walk around writing comments and questions on post it notes and posting them beside the corresponding picture.

When sufficient time has passed, bring the class back together, and put students into groups where they will discuss Same-Different: what's the same and what's different between each picture. Then, the teacher can bring back the class and incorporate the Medicine Wheel as a graphic organizer. The Medicine Wheel teaches us about equality and respect for all people of the four colours and the four directions. The four directions of the Medicine Wheel remind us of many things, such as the need for balance in the world, and the balance we must strive for everyday within ourselves. For the Spiritual portion of the medicine wheel, the students will reflect on where simple machines came from, and how it affects our lives (

- A Wonder Bulletin board concept map will be used as a tool for students to visualize and keep track of their learning. One idea would be to divide the board in half, one side for pulleys, the other for gears. On each side there is a designated area for questions with space to be able to provide the information gained from the inquiry activities. (Here is an example of a wonder bulletin board, showing how knowledge was accumulated and expanded upon :

- Variation: Instead of the teacher printing a word list/pictures, take the class on a walk around the school/community to try to find other applications of pulleys and gears. The teacher provides the students either with drawing tools or a method to take pictures, then show the pictures either through a projector or a gallery walk, and do the same process as the Social Studies connection above

Questioning (I WONDER)

Pulleys should be familiar to the students from Grade 2, but gears might not be familiar to them. Therefore, misconceptions can also become an experiential activity and should be noted for possible exploration later. Questioning can be done collectively with the whole class so that the teacher can keep track of the questions, answer questions that should be answered immediately for safety, and help the students classify which questions can be safely carried out as an inquiry. Knowledge from personal and cultural experiences may also come up.

It is important that the right environment is established for questioning and that the teacher models Questioning in such a way that asks for deeper thinking. The following websites have good advice on how to get students to think deeper:

Below are possible questions that the inquiry activities will be answering. Have the questions in mind, and try to steer student comments/questions in that direction. This is similar to co-creating Learning Goals, Success Criteria and Rubrics with the students. Of course, this will not always happen in reality and other questions will come up that cannot be placed under these inquiry questions. Any remaining questions should be collated and investigated as an Extension (see related section)

Teacher-led / Student-led
How do pulleys and gears help make our lives easier?
Are there costs to using pulleys and gears to make our lives easier? / How does the size of the gear affect its use? (What happens if we have two big gears instead of one small, one large? What if we switch the front gears to the back? Is the size of the gear important?)
How does the number of pulleys affect its use? (What happens if we put more pulleys? What if we put less pulleys? Is the length of the rope important?)

Explore / Inquiry activity: (I DO): Inquiry process