Uplifting Screws

I must admit, I think I had way more fun than the kids working on our screw unit.  When I find something genuinely clever to add into our mix of information, demonstration, and minor experimentation, I get very excited about it.  The water wheel was one of those clever additions and so was this weeks extra bit of fun: the Archimedes screw!  But before I get too far ahead of myself, back to the lesson overall.

When I explained to the kids that our simple machine for this week was the screw, they looked at me like I was crazy.  They KNOW screws.  The other machines might have been simple and easy to recognize, but at least they did more than one thing.  Well, by the end of the day, the kiddoes did realize that screws are used both to hold things together and lift things, but I'm pretty sure they still thought I was crazy to be so giddy-excited over something as boring as screws.

The one thing they did get excited about was lunch.  I rarely incorporate meals into our lessons, but since we were already wrapping paper triangles around pencils to demonstrate the relationship between the inclined plane and the screw, it was easy to add on wrapping triangle croissants around hot dogs to make edible screws!  Sometimes it's pretty easy to get them excited about science, too.

We also made little paper helicopters that twirl down to the ground like screws, so they don't just crash down to the ground.  Anything that can be made from paper always seems to be a hit and has the added bonus of being simple and fast.  I used the template provided in Starting with Science: Simple Machines, but it would be easy to make one without a guide.  As long as the paper has a middle section to point down and 2 propellers to catch the air and cause it to turn, it should work.

We took a plastic cylinder (you could also use a Pringles can) and wrapped some plastic tubing (meant for an aquarium) around it, then used this to transport water up to a higher container.

Finally, the Archimedes screw.  I found a tutorial here to make one from a plastic bottle, paperboard/ cardstock, and a dowel/ pencil.  The process is really simple.  Ours got a little stuck after a while, but it still accomplished its purpose.  Next time I would use a stronger material for the spiral and make sure that the bottle is the same width all the way through so there are no gaps at the sides. (By the way, I realized I had no pictures of this one, so I went back and took a few quick ones, and I was using it upside down!  Oops!  lol)

All in all, a very fun and successful unit. The kids definitely got the idea and had some fun (even if I had a bit more!)  We'll be doing some quick review, then it's on to energy!

--Little Miss Crazy