District 11 Division of Operations & Instruction
Science

Grade 5: Levers and Pulleys Unit
Overview
This unit is a Full Option Science System (FOSS) kit created by the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley. It is published by Delta Education. The Levers and Pulleys kit exposes students to basic concepts of mechanics using two of the six simple machines: levers and pulleys. They gain first-hand experience with effort, load, fulcrum, and mechanical advantage. Students will begin to see the power of simple machines in products they use everyday.

Building Successful Foundations in Science - Elementary science integrates and organizes student scientific knowledge through a foundation made up of 'Bricks" of Big Ideas put together with the "Mortar" of Unifying Concepts.

Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

  • The six simple machines are the lever, screw, pulley, wheel and axle, inclined plane, and wedge.
  • Levers and pulleys are simple machines used to make work easier by changing the effort (force) to move a load or overcome a resistance.
  • The greater the distance the force is applied, the less effort is necessary to lift the load.
  • Machines do not increase the quantity of work, they spread the work out over a longer distance.
  • A lever system can be changed by moving the position of the load, effort, and fulcrum.
  • Effort is the force needed to move a load or overcome a resistance.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

  • What are some different simple machines?
  • How can a lever and pulley make work easier and how much effort is needed to lift the load?
  • Which lever/pulley system gives the greatest advantage?
  • What are the parts of a lever system?
  • How can a lever system be changed?
  • What is effort and how does it apply to simple machines? How many ways can lever and pulley systems be assembled?

Standards 

Highest Frequency Standards  High Frequency Standards  Other Standards & E-skills

Standard 1: Students understand the processes of scientific investigation and design, conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations. (1.a., 1.b., 1.c., 1.e., 1.f., 1.g., 1.h., 1.i., 1.j.)
Standard 2: Students know and understand common properties, forms, and changes in matter and energy. (2.1.a., 2.2.a., 2.2.b., 2.3.a., 2.3.b.,)
Standard 5: Students know and understand interrelationships among science, technology, and human activity and how they can affect the world. (5.c., 5.d.)
Standard 6: Students understand the processes of scientific investigation and design, conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations. (6.a., 6.d., 6.f.)

Sample Units

District 11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units:

Vocabulary:  
Lever - a simple machine that people use to gain a mechanical advantage, such as making work easier
Lever arm - a stick or beam free to pivot at a point
Fulcrum - the point where the lever arm pivots
Load - the mass lifted or the resistance overcome by a lever
Effort - the force needed to move a load or overcome a resistance
Coordinate - they show relationships between two variables
Advantage - a benefit obtained by using a lever (or other simple machine)
Diagram - a drawing that describes the relationship of all the parts of a system
Resistance -
Pulley - a wheel with a grooved rim in which a rope can run to change the direction of the pull (force) that lifts a load
Fixed pulley - has a wheel that is attached to something above the load
Movable pulley - has a wheel that is attached to the load
Mechanical - reduces the effort needed to lift a load or overcome a resistance;
Advantage - it results from using a simple machine
Directional - a change in direction that results from passing a rope through an advantage
Simple machine - any of the six basic devices that provide mechanical or other advantage, such as pulleys and levers

Parents

Simple machines are found everywhere in our modern-day world. Challenge your child to find the use of levers and pulleys throughout your home.  

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