Unit Overview
Gr. 4 Science Curriculum
In School Pulleys & Gears Presentation

1. Field Trip
   • We will visit the Ontario Science Centre on a field trip to view a variety of mechanical sculptures, take part in a pulleys & gears workshop and to explore the wonderful world of "hands-on" science available at this facility.
2. Annotated Bibliography
   • Students are expected to visit at least 5 sites on the Internet related to pulleys, gears or simple machines. They can use the sites listed below or they can find their own sites. 
   • An annotated bibliography is a list of resources that has 1 or 2 sentences describing what the resource is.
3. Junk Art Sculpture  
   • Each student needs to build a sculpture at home made mainly out of reused "junk". It needs to have at least 1 pulley or gear in it, it needs to move and do something. The sculptures will be on display in the classroom for 3 days.
   • Click here to find out the specific expectations.
   • Click here to see some photos from past years.
4. Instruction Manual
   • An Instruction Manual Needs to be written for the sculpture. A blank template will be handed out in class. It should include:
     • name of creation (all artists give their artwork names / titles)
     • description of what the sculpture can "do"
     • diagrams of sculpture - side view, bird's eye view, worm's eye view
     • list of components
     • list of tools used for assembly
     • brief description of construction process
     • brief description of difficulties encountered during the design & construction process and how these problems were solved
5. Presentation of Junk Art Sculpture
   • A short (2 - 3 minute) presentation needs to be made to the class. The sculpture is presented and what it does is demonstrated. The student is expected to talk about the project. This presentation is not to be memorized or read from notes. A cue card with point form notes may be used to help the student keep on track & not forget anything.
     • the student will tell the class:
       • how the sculpture was made
       • demonstrate what it "does"
       • how the pulley or gear makes the sculpture "do" something easily
       • problems that happened while building the sculpture & how they were solved
       • one new skill learned by doing this project
     • the student is expected to demonstrate a knowledge of how the pulley or gear works and use specific descriptive language and scientific vocabulary
     • the student will respond to 3 to 5 questions or comments from the class
6. Junk Art Sculpture Art Exhibition
   • Students from other classes will be invited to tour our FabFour Junk Art Sculpture Gallery. Students are expected to demonstrate how their sculptures work and answer questions fom our visitors in a professional "showmanlike" way. Parents will be informed of the time of this exhibition and are invited to attend as well.

   Some Web Sites for Kids about Building Things

   1. How Stuff Works
   2. Building Big
   3. The Mechanical Toys Page
   4. Build-It-Yourself Toy Laboratory
   5. Lego Mindstorms
   6. Oh Look, LEGO Lessons!
   7. Science Toys
   8. Spotlight on Simple Machines
   9. Rat Tales
      • ThinkQuest Simple Machines 
   10. EdHeads Simple Machines
   11. Rube Goldberg Gallery of whacky machines
   12. Pulleys and Gears Project Ideas