Field Trip to the Science Museum

For their How the World Works unit of inquiry the students in Grade 3 have been learning all about how simple machines use force and motion to make work easier.

This past Monday, the third graders went on a field trip to the Science Museum to see first hand how forces create motion and how simple and compound machines reduce the amount of force required to do work.

Students had a ton of fun in the museum's Machine Room, where they used a variety of levers, pulleys, screws, inclined planes, etc. to move some massive steel spheres around the room.



Students came away from the field trip with a greater understanding of simple machines and the ways in which simple machines can be combined to create compound machines.

How much do you know about simple and compound machines? 

Can you identify the simple machines in these photos? 

Leave us your answers in the comment section below.

Where We Are in Place and Time

For their Where We Are in Place and Time unit of inquiry, the students in Grade 3 have been inquiring into inventions and inventors.

Students kicked off the unit by attempting to answer the question:

Why Do People Invent?

Next, the students were given pictures of different inventions and asked to sort them in a variety of different ways.

Students worked collaboratively in small groups to arrange the inventions in order of age, importance, and usefulness.

After estimating the age of each invention, the students used their research skills to search books and the internet to try and identify the actual year each invention was created.