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Museum Educator-led Programs
Pre & Post Visit Resources
Toy Works with Simple Machines

Grades 1-2

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Program Description and Frameworks
Program Outline
Key Terms and Concepts
Classroom Activities
Print and Web Resources
Go to the Alexander Calder: An Artist at Play Gallery Page

Click here for printable version of all resources listed above.

Investigate the mechanisms that make Alexander Calder's toys work. Observe the functions of wheels and axles, levers, and wedges by setting toys in motion. Whether things go straight, zigzag, or round-and-round, find out how force affects motion and what work has got to do with play. Location: Alexander Calder: An Artist at Play
Length: One hour
Grades: 1 - 2

Massachusetts Frameworks
Science and Technology/Engineering Strand 3

Science and Technology/Engineering Strand 4

Visual Arts Strand: Standard 10

New York Standards
Math, Science and Technology : Standard 1

Students ask 'why' questions in attempts to seek greater understanding concerning objects and events they have observed and heard about. Students question the explanations they hear from others and read about, seeking clarification and comparing them with their own observations and understandings.

Students develop relationships among observations to construct descriptions of objects and events and to form their own tentative explanations of what they have observed.

Standard 4 Science Physical Setting

Standard 5 Technology

Introduction
Students are introduced to Alexander Calder's mobiles and push and pull toys. They are then paired together as partners and given a replica of a pull toy. Students try out their toys and explore the gallery, searching for the original prototype (in display cases) that looks like their toy. The group gathers together to discuss the similarities and differences that students observed between the replicas and the originals.

Defining Work
Through lively demonstrations with visual aids, the group defines work in its scientific context.

Simple Machines
A quick introduction to the six simple machines: lever, wedge, ramp, wheel and axle, pulley, and screw, with opportunities for hands-on manipulation of examples. The lever and the wheel are identified by the group as the two machines that are at work in Calder's toys.

Lever Demonstration
Through discussion, demonstrations with props, and student participation, the group explores the following questions: What is the function of a lever? What are some everyday ways that we use levers?

Wheels
The difference between the wheel and axle and the rotating wheel is introduced, and the importance of round wheels (reducing friction) is demonstrated.

Wheel Activity
The class will then be divided into 5 groups. Each group will receive a set of color-coded wheel-and-axle sets, containing a variety of wheel types that can be tested on a dinosaur vehicle. Each group will have the challenge of finding the kind of wheels that will make their vehicle move in a certain way-either up-and-down or wobbly.

Discuss Results
Students share their findings about each kind of wheel and axle and the movement of their vehicle.

Calder Toys
Students, working with partners, will be given one Calder toy to investigate, with the goal of identifying the mechanisms in their toy, and observing and describing the toy's motion.

Conclusion
Groups share their findings.

• Simple and complex machines make work seem easier because they reduce the amount of force or distance needed to get work done.
• Levers can be found in many everyday objects like umbrellas, fold-out rulers, salad tongs, and our own bodies (arms and legs!).
• An axle can be attached to just one wheel or to more than one. Wheels make it easier to move things. Not all wheel-and-axle sets are the same, and the differences can make them (or the vehicles they carry) move in different ways.
• Combining art skills and science knowledge can help you to create something fun and interesting.

Key Terms Used During the Program

• Work
  a force making an object move a distance.
• Force
  a push or a pull.
• Load
  the object that is moved when work is done.
• Simple machines
  six machines that have been used for thousands of years; the wedge, ramp (inclined plane), screw, wheel and axle, pulley, and lever. Combinations of more than one simple machine are called complex machines.
• Lever
  a rigid beam that can pivot at a fixed point. Examples: see saws, light switches, and windshield wipers. Two or more levers can be attached to each other. Examples: scissors and salad tongs.
• Inclined plane (ramp)
  a flat surface set at an angle, rather than being completely horizontal or vertical. Example: a slide. Screw an inclined plane spiraled around an axis or cylinder. Screws turn circular motion into linear (forward and backward) motion. Examples: a wood screw, a faucet, and a vice.
• Wedge
  two inclined planes placed back to back. When a force is applied to the wedge, it moves forward to act on the load. Examples: an ax blade and a wood splitter (maul).
• Rotating wheel
  a wheel that is not fixed to an axle, so that the wheel can spin while the axle remains still. Example: bicycle wheels.
• Wheel and axle
  a wheel that is fixed to an axle so that they rotate together. Examples: car wheels and steering wheel.
• Pulley
  a wheel that is free to turn on an axle that has a grooved rim that can hold a cord or a rope. Examples: clotheslines and theater curtain rigging.

Mobiles
Introduce or review Alexander Calder's mobiles. To create the arms of your mobile, fold one pipe cleaner in half. About one inch from the folded end, twist both parts of the pipe cleaner around each other to create a loop. Then spread out the two loose ends so that your pipe cleaner looks like the diagram on the left. Take a second pipe cleaner and twist it around the bottom of the loop a couple of times and spread the arms so that you now have four arms that create an X. Bend the tips of each arm upwards. Now you are ready to draw, color, cut out and hang any shapes you would like. Use wire Christmas tree hangers for an easy, no-tie way to add your shapes.

Toys in Motion
Ask students to bring in a toy from home. Ask each student to share their toy with the class. If it has moving parts, talk about how the toy moves and how the parts work together. Introduce or review Alexander Calder and his push and pull toys. Now it is their turn to be the toy designers! Ask them to imagine a moving toy of their own and to draw a picture of it. They should give their toy a name and be able to explain what all of the parts are and how the toy moves.

Simple Machine Scavenger Hunt
How many simple machines can you find in your everyday life? Write down places where you have found simple machines indoors and outside. Click here for the hunt.

Assessment: Calder Toy Picture Book
After a visit to the Museum, students create a picture book about the Alexander Calder toy exhibit to share with their families. Book contents might include a drawing of the student's favorite toy, information about how it moves (i.e., You pull it and it wobbles and skates), what machines helped it to move, and what students liked best about the exhibit.

Use the Berkshire Athenaeum’s on-line catalogue to search for these print resources in Central/Western Massachusetts.Print Materials For Students

Armentrout, David and Patricia. Cranes (Heavy Equipment). Florida: The Rourke Book Co., Inc., 1995. A good introduction to the world of machines.

Rotner, Shelley. Wheels Around. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Large color photos illustrate how wheels help us in our daily lives.

Roytson, Angela. The Machines in Action Series including Wheels and Cranks, Pulleys & Gears, Levers, Screws, and Springs. Heineman Library, 2001. Lots of pictures and clear text. Good for young readers.

Venezia, Mike. Alexander Calder (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists). New York: Children's Press, 1998. An excellent and thorough introduction to Calder-- the man, the artist, the work, for young readers.

Print Materials For Educators

Greenfield, Howard. The Essential Alexander Calder. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 2003. Don't let the small size of this book fool you! It is packed with fascinating information about Calder's life and career, and includes some interesting quotes.

Hodge, Deborah. Simple Machines (Starting with Science). Kids Can Pree, 1998. Excellent ideas for fun activities and experiments that you can do with simple, common household materials.

Web Materials for Students

Inventor'sToolbox: The Elements of Machines.
Developed by the Museum of Science, Boston for The Science Learning Network, 1997. Good images of the simple machines and some common complex machines like worm gears and the crank and rod. A challenge page asks you to identify the mechanisms in gadgets like a hand powered drill.

Web Materials for Educators

Franklin Institute's Spotlight on Simple Machines
Descriptions of the simple machines, links to other resources, and lesson plans and activities centered around simple and complex machines and motion at the elementary and middle school levels.

Work is Simple with Simple Machines.
A Project Smart 96 Unit created by Rhode Island Teachers with the goal of integrating technology into the science and math curricula. Includes activities, key terms, bibliography and links.

 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal grant- making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities supports the Berkshire Museum.

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