Kindergarten Engineers Explore Simple Machines in STEAM

Students in STEAM class are young engineers as they explored five simple machines through hands-on investigation and discovery. During the lesson, students were presented with a real-world problem: Mrs. Calhoun, the STEAM teacher, has a lot of work to do at her house. How can we make work easier?

To help solve the problem, students rotated through five engaging stations, each representing a different simple machine. At each station, students explored, tested ideas, and documented their discoveries.

At the Inclined Plane station, students experimented with a variety of objects rolling down a ramp. They recorded their observations and determined which item traveled the fastest.

At the Lever station, students used different materials such as: dump trucks, staplers, scissors and hole punches to explore how levers work and how they can help lift or move objects.

The Pulley station allowed students to use a working pulley system to raise and lower materials, helping them see how pulleys make lifting easier.

At the Wheel and Axle station, students became builders by using LEGO pieces and toy car parts to construct their own examples of wheel-and-axle systems.

Finally, at the Screw station, students examined everyday objects that contain screws and demonstrated how this simple machine helps hold things together.

Students documented their work by taking photos and sharing their learning on SeeSaw, where they labeled their images and explained what they discovered at each station.

This investigation aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), specifically:
Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

The lesson was also designed to support the East Aurora School District 131 Dual Language curriculum for Quarter 3. The theme for this quarter, “Happy Healthy Me; I Can Do It!”, encourages students to explore how tools and problem-solving strategies help us accomplish tasks more easily.

Through curiosity, collaboration, and hands-on learning, these young engineers discovered that simple machines help make big jobs easier!