ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: I would like students to understand the role machines play in making work easier. I would also like students to be able to identify and classify simple machines. Learning Goal(s): The students will identify simple machines in everyday objects. The students will create their own machine identifying the simple machines within it and how the machine makes work easier/more efficient

Questions Answered

Essential questions: What are simple machines? How do simple machines help us do work? How would using a machine make a job easier and more efficient? Learning Objectives: The students will describe the function of simple machines. Students will create models of simple machines and explain which is more efficient and why. Students will create their own machines for a machine fair. Students will be able to use the internet to view specific machines at work. Students will analyze machines on the job and review their role in making work easier

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding? We will use a quiz on general information using pictures and a word bank. There will be a test on the end of the unit. What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?  Essential questions posted on the board. Open-ended essay questions. What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding? Investigation activities, individual and group assessment, group presentation, following a rubric, machine fair What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect? observations, work samples

Instructional Strategies

The project-based strategy will be the one I use with my 3rd graders. The students will demonstrate their knowledge of simple machines by creating their own machine for a machine fair at our school. They will use a time line and rubric to help guide their progress. The guidance will be limited to allow them to explore and help each other as they make discoveries through investigations. They will need higher level thinking skills to create their own machine and to successfully complete their class experiments. The students will use their knowledge gained from the textbook, models, experiments and websites to create their final project.