Exploration Name: Simple Machines (Toys)
Exploration Dates: August 12 – September 26
Number of students: 13
Essential Questions:
1. What are simple machines?
2. What is mechanical advantage?
3. How can simple machines be used to create engaging interactive toys and why is toy creation a powerful form of learning?
Description: In our Exploration class we learned about simple machines and how to make toys using cams (it is like a circle, like wheel and axle) + simple machines. Simple machines can make some jobs easier to do. We learned about wedges, levers, pulleys, inclined planes, gears, screws, wheels and axles. Each of these things have different advantages and disadvantages. Levers are the most used in real life. Levers can be anything you hold. Ex. sword handle, computer lid, all of those things are levers. When we started we learned about how to use simple machines in our toys. We watched a lot of videos to understand and to get new ideas. We first built toys for testing our project. It worked but it was too small and not good enough. We researched more and then we got more ideas from books, computers and videos. When we had enough knowledge and enough information, we got an idea and we worked in teams. We thought that to make our toy more interactive, we have to get some paint to make it colorful. When we finished the toy we planned a trip with our teacher to Takeo province. Our trip was not long just half a day travel and half a day at NFO to teach the students there about simple machines and how to make toys. We came back to set up for our presentation in the big area. All of Liger students came to see us and learn from each other.