Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Who Are Mechanical Engineers
Who Are Mechanical Engineers
Materials:
-Role sticks, toilet paper rolls, pom-pom balls (5), paper towel rolls (4), posterboard (4) little
basket, ribbon spool, straws (2), duct tape, thick popsicle sticks (4), thin popsicle sticks (16),
rubber bands, marshmallows, simple machines, poster of mechanical engineer (2), direction
sheets for simple machines (10- Four of MC, four of PPD), containers for materials (10),
ENGAGE
1. Hand out different machines to each group. Students will test the machines by
experimenting with them. (can opener, pencil sharpener, scissors, mechanical pencil, glue
stick, stapler, remote, toy tractor)
2. Split the students into five groups. Pick one machine within your group. Students
will share this among their whole class group.
a. What is your machine and what’s the purpose?
EXPLORE
Machine: instrument that transforms or uses energy in order to do work
EXPLAIN
One of us will explain one machine (stapler) after the groups explore and discuss. Other
questions to talk about aloud include:
1. Hand out sheet that describes directions of how to make the machine (provide
materials)
a. Use student sticks as key roles: materials manager (gathers
materials for the group and makes sure all materials are being used effectively),
group leader (makes sure the group stays on task), recorder (writes down the
reasoning for the questions discussed), reporter (speaks on behalf of the group
regarding discussion questions).
b. All group members should contribute to building the simple
machine.
2. Groups will present their machines to the class. Questions to answer:
● What makes this a machine?
● What are some advantages of using this machine?
● What would you need to do if you did not have this machine?
● What are some disadvantages of using this machine?
● How could you improve the machines to make them more efficient?
EVALUATE
● “Think of other machines in which your action causes a motion that performs a
different action. Questions:
○ How do mechanical engineers observe and think about machines?
○ Are any of the machines you made as a group similar to the
machines your group looked at earlier?
○ How are these machines different from each other?
1. Cardboard tubes
2. Spool
3. Straw or pencil
4. String
5. Tape, Scissors
6. Small basket (object to attach to string)
Steps:
Marshmallow Catapult
Materials:
- Thick Popsicle sticks (4), thin Popsicle sticks (16), rubber bands, marshmallows
Directions:
1. Stack 8 thin Popsicle sticks together.
2. Rubber band both ends of the Popsicle sticks.
3. Place one of the thick Popsicle sticks between the stack of thin Popsicle sticks.
4. Place the other thick Popsicle stick on top of the stack of thin Popsicle sticks.
5. Rubber band the end of the two larger Popsicle sticks (see picture for clarification).
6. Place a mini marshmallow on the top of the large Popsicle stick.
7. See how far you can make your marshmallow go!
Pom Pom Drop
Materials:
- Paper towel rolls
- Toilet paper rolls
- Scissors
- Tape
- Pom poms or other types of small balls, such as marbles or bouncy balls
- Poster Board
Directions:
- Using the picture provided, tape down the toilet paper or paper towel rolls starting from the
top right and working your way to the bottom of the poster board.
- Your goal is to successful transfer the pom pom from the top roll to bottom.