Can someone raise their hand and tell me how they got to school today? Why did you take the bus/car? Would you rather have walked that long distance? So using a car/bus did you get to school faster and easier than if you had walked? Well this is because a car/bus is an example of a very complex tool that people use to make traveling easier! Can anyone else name some simple tools that you might see around your house? (Might name a hammer, screwdriver, kitchen appliance, etc.) Very good! And what does this tool do? Can anyone tell me why we might need to use tools like this hammer? Would you be able to take this nail and push it through a piece of wood with just your hands? No? This is because people use tools to help them do things that they can't do on their own. Tools are used to make work easier. Imagine if you invented a homework machine!

Today we will be exploring a simple tool that you might not know much about. It's called an inclined plane. Does anyone know what inclined means? Inclined is when something is tilted, so that part of it is touching a lower point in space than the other. A plane is anything that is large and flat, like a piece of wood or a football field. So now that you know what inclined and plane mean, what is an inclined plane? An inclined plane is a large flat object that is tilted so that it goes from a lower point in space to a higher one (show an example using a flat piece of wood). Can anyone tell me what this tool could be used for? Lets say you're a professional skateboarder and you want to try out a cool trick, but what do you need? You need some AIR! What does a skateboarder use to get in the air? That's right! A ramp! But what is a ramp? (Draw one on the board). A ramp is just a flat piece of wood that is tilted upwards, so that a skateboarder can get from the ground to up in the air and pull off his trick! This makes a ramp an inclined plane! Who else might use an inclined plane besides a skateboarder? Lets say you are an engineer building a road from here to California (draw map on board), but what's in your way? (Ans: Rocky Mountains) That's right, these gigantic Rocky Mountains are blocking the road! How do engineers build roads over mountains? They use hills! Whenever you drive up a hill on the road, you're driving up an inclined plane!

Remember how we said that tools are used to make work easier? Now that we know an inclined plane can be used to move something (car, skateboarder, etc.) from a low point to a high point, let's find out why inclined planes make work easier.

So what are some things we learned about tools today? We learned that tools are used to make work easier? What were some of the tools around the house that we named before? What kinds of work to they make easier? How? Can someone define an inclined plane for me? What is it used for? Can anyone name an example of an inclined plane? How do they make work easier?

Engineers use inclined planes all the time, whether to construct roads, skateboarding ramps, handicap access, sidewalk ramps, etc. Next time you are driving over the Rocky Mountains, think about the reasons why an engineer decided to use the inclined plane to get your car over the mountain. Would you have wanted to have walked?

Post-Introduction Assessment

Post-Lesson Assessment