Planning, designing, working as a team and using tools to create something, or to get a job done, is what engineering is all about. It also took tremendous planning and a great design. However, it took more than just simple machines to build the pyramids. By using simple machines, ordinary people can split huge rocks, hoist large stones, and move blocks over great distances. Many of today's complex tools are really just more complicated forms of the six simple machines. Simple machines are devices with no, or very few, moving parts that make work easier. But without these modern tools, how did Egyptian workers cut, shape, transport and place enormous stones? Well, one key to accomplishing this amazing and difficult task was the use of simple machines. How did the Egyptians build the Great Pyramids thousands of years ago (~2,500 BCE)? Could you build a pyramid using 9,000-kilogram (~10-ton or 20,000-lb) blocks of stone with your bare hands? That's like trying to move a large elephant with your bare hands! How many people might it take to move a block that big? It would still be a challenge to build a pyramid today even with modern tools, such as jackhammers, cranes, trucks and bulldozers. International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology
Patterns of change can be used to make predictions. (Boundary: Technical terms, such as magnitude, velocity, momentum, and vector quantity, are not introduced at this level, but the concept that some quantities need both size and direction to be described is developed.) The patterns of an object's motion in various situations can be observed and measured when that past motion exhibits a regular pattern, future motion can be predicted from it. Make observations and/or measurements to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon or test a design solution.Īlignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback! Science findings are based on recognizing patterns.Īlignment agreement: Thanks for your feedback! This lesson focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS: Make observations and/or measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.Ĭlick to view other curriculum aligned to this Performance Expectation
In two hands-on activities, students begin their own pyramid design by performing materials calculations, and evaluating and selecting a construction site. Students are introduced to the six types of simple machines - the wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, and pulley - in the context of the construction of a pyramid, gaining high-level insights into tools that have been used since ancient times and are still in use today.
Simple machines are devices with few or no moving parts that make work easier.