Making Magnificent Machines: Fun with Math, Science, and Engineering

Students will have fun creating whimsical animated machines while meeting national science and math standards. Students are guided through practical construction applications with projects they assemble from recycled materials. Science as inquiry becomes part of building the machines. Students will also experiment with math to determine materials and measurements that make his/her machine perform its best. Fourteen step-by-step projects are provided, emphasizing key concepts of potential, kinetic, and electrical energy; inclined plane; fulcrum, lever, and pulley; weights and balances; characteristics of moving objects; principles of flight; and action and reaction. Students will enjoy hands-on learning while making ducks that lay golden eggs, cars that really race, an extraordinary Ferris wheel, jumping bat wings, and many more magnificent machines.