EDUCATION PROGRAM
Simple Machines
Grade Range: 2-4
Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes
In this hands-on program, students will review the six simple machines and identify how they function in modern tools, industrial tools from the 20th century, and three colossal steam engines and pump systems. Students will learn how factors like industrialization and immigration influenced the design of Boston’s public water system and how the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Pumping Station played a crucial role in that system.
While touring the Great Engines Hall, students will learn the basic principles behind steam powered water pumps and see how their design was reworked over time to make them as efficient as possible. They will then apply their knowledge of Simple Machines and the Engineering Design process to their own design challenge.
$5 per student
Enduring Understanding
You can understand how a complex machine works by breaking it down into smaller, simpler parts.
Essential Question
How have the six simple machines helped us to do work both in the past and today?
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Identify the six simple machines and how they function in both modern and historic complex machines
- Understand the basic principles behind “Steam Power” and “Water Pumps”
- Recognize that as a city grows, so must its water supply and distribution infrastructure
- Recognize that while technology can change rapidly, some basic concepts stay the same.
- Apply knowledge of simple machines to the solution of a design problem
Curriculum Connections
MA Science and Technology Standards
Grade 2
- 2-PS1-2. Test different materials and analyze the data obtained to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
Grade 3
- 3-PS2-1. Provide evidence to explain the effect of multiple forces, including friction, on an object.
- 3-5-ETS1-1. Define a simple design problem that reflects a need or a want. Include criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost that a potential solution must meet.
- 3-5-ETS1-2. Generate several possible solutions to a given design problem. Compare each solution based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the design problem.
Grade 4
- 4-PS3-2. Make observations to show that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
- 4.3-5-ETS1-5(MA). Evaluate relevant design features that must be considered in building a model or prototype of a solution to a given design problem.
Upcoming Events
Current Exhibit
Moving Water: From Ancient Innovations to Modern Challenges
Ancient civilizations engineered water systems that sustained communities for thousands of years. This exhibition spotlights six places that innovated ways to deliver, and control water for human use. It also looks at how climate change is impacting all of those places, forcing public officials to consider new ways to keep the water flowing.