Lifting With Levers
In this lesson children will experiment with a simple lever setup to see if they can lift a heavy object off of the floor with just one finger.
Learning Goals:
This lesson will help children meet the following educational standards:
- Demonstrate curiosity about the world and begin to use the practices of science and engineering to answer questions and solve problems
- Explore concepts and information about the physical, earth and life sciences
- Understand important connections and concepts in science and engineering
Learning Targets:
After this lesson, children should be more proficient at:
- Developing beginning skills in the use of science and engineering practices such as observing, asking questions, solving problems and drawing conclusions
- Identifying, describing and comparing the physical properties of objects
- Exploring the effect of force on objects in and outside of the early childhood environment
- Understanding rules to follow when investigating and exploring
- Using nonstandard and standard scientific tools for investigation
Step 1: Gather materials.
- The book, Scoop, Seesaw, and Raise: A Book About Levers, by Michael Dahl (or any of the titles in our Suggested Books section below)
- A pencil
- Rigid rulers with inch markings (do not use flexible rulers)
- Items to use as weights, such as small books or crayon boxes
Step 2: Introduce activity.
- Read: Scoop, Seesaw, and Raise: A Book About Levers.
- Point out new vocabulary words.
- Explain that the children will experiment with a simple lever setup to see if they can lift a heavy object off of the floor with just one finger.
Step 3: Engage children in lesson activities.
- Explain that a force is a push or a pull on an object. Say: "We exert forces every day, whether we are pushing open a door, pulling a friend in a wagon, or picking up a stick. Sometimes we use machines to help us use bigger forces. This is called mechanical advantage."
- Explain: "A lever is a type of simple machine that can be used to increase a force. A seesaw at the playground is a simple example of a lever."
- Tell the children that they are going to make their own levers.
- Say: "We can make a small version of a seesaw using a pencil and a ruler."
- Place a pencil flat on a desk and put a ruler on top of it at the halfway point, which is the 6-inch mark.
- Place an object such as a book or a box of crayons on one end of the ruler.
- Press down on the ruler just on the other side of the pencil, near the 5-inch mark. Ask: "Is it easy or hard to lift the box?"
- Now try pressing down at the end of the ruler, near the 0-inch mark. Ask: "Is it easier to lift the box?"
- Ask: "What happens if you move the pencil closer to the box of crayons and press down on the other end of the ruler again?
- Tell the children to make predictions before they try. Is it harder or easier to lift the box?
- Explain: "Your finger is the force pressing down on the ruler. When the force is much farther away from the pencil (the fulcrum), the load (your object) is much easier to lift because the force is farther away from the fulcrum than the load. Let the children experiment with this idea and then extend their investigation by trying to lift other objects with the lever.
Step 4: Engineering vocabulary
- Force: A push or a pull on an object
- Fulcrum: The point on which the beam can balance and move freely up and down
- Lever: A type of simple machine that can be used to increase a force
Suggested Books
- Levers Lessen the Load: Simple Machines for Kids by Andi Diehn
- Simple Machines by D.J. Ward
- Simple Machines: Wheels, Levers and Pulleys by David Adler
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