Lesson 3: Application of lever classifications to a catapult

Title: Application of lever classifications

Author: Andrew Stillman

Week: 4

Unit/Lesson Plan #: 7

Unit theme: Materials, tools, and machines

Textbook references: N/A

Learning objectives: See previous lesson for lever classfication objectives.

• Students will demonstrate the ability to classify and show schematic representations of levers found in everyday tools.
• Students will apply their understanding of lever classes to their team's catapult.

Key Questions, Concepts, or Themes:

What classes of lever have we created in our catapults?

Stage 1: Teacher modeling

• Have students take out their homework (Lever classification worksheet from FOSS)
• Review of schematic symbols for a lever. Put a schematic diagram on the board and ask students what each of the symbols means.
• Take a paper cutter as an example. Get student volunteers to create a schematic diagram of the lever.

Stage 2: Whiteboarding

• Explain what will go on the whiteboard. (Left: Sketch of the object with Fulcrum, Load, and Effort identified, as well as the class of lever. Right: Sketch of catapult, with same).
• Jigsaw out the problems on the worksheet, assigning one per group.

Stage 3: Presenting

• Student groups present their solutions to the problems and their catapult diagrams. Use group roles to identify the presenter.
• Students should discover that their levers
• Summary question: What variable would you change about a lever to result in a large launch speed.

Homework: (attach/link digital resources): None.

Assessments: (attach/link copies)

__ Group assessment

__ Observation of process/student work

__ Self-assessment by student

__ Teacher generated assignment

__ Written project

__ Test/Quiz

__ Other: ____________________________________