Procedure: Each group is provided with a few mechanisms. They also look for additional
examples of mechanisms, both from around the room, and also from among their personal
effects. They are asked to determine the characteristics these devices have in common.
They then share these characteristics with the whole class, which then develops a
brainstorming list of what makes something a “mechanism.”
The job of a mechanism is to transform the force and motion supplied by the user to the
force and motion needed to do a task elsewhere. Some things these mechanisms have in
common are that each one needs a human being to operate it, and each is designed to do a
job. Some tasks involve cutting, holding, crunching, mixing, or squeezing; but there are
also mechanisms whose job is simply to fold or unfold, retract or extend, etc. The point
on the device where the user applies a force is called the input, while the place where
the job takes place is the output.
As they look around the room, students should be encouraged to extend their view of
mechanisms to include such items as, light switches, door locks, doors, door knobs,
cabinet handles, window latches, crank-operated pencil sharpeners, folding chairs, etc.
They may also identify mechanisms they have brought with them, These might include
retractable ball-point pens, book bag buckles, key chain latches, and so forth.
Interesting issues may come up about whether books, cell phones, calculators, watches,
etc., should be considered mechanisms. Raising and thinking about these questions are
far more useful than trying to answer them definitively.
Procedure: Each group is provided with a few mechanisms. They also look for additional
examples of mechanisms, both from around the room, and also from among their personal
effects. They are asked to determine the characteristics these devices have in common.
They then share these characteristics with the whole class, which then develops a
brainstorming list of what makes something a “mechanism.”
As they look around the room, students should be encouraged to extend their view of
mechanisms to include such items as, light switches, door locks, doors, door knobs,
cabinet handles, window latches, crank-operated pencil sharpeners, folding chairs, etc.
They may also identify mechanisms they have brought with them, These might include
retractable ball-point pens, book bag buckles, key chain latches, and so forth.
Interesting issues may come up about whether books, cell phones, calculators, watches,
etc., should be considered mechanisms. Raising and thinking about these questions are
far more useful than trying to answer them definitively.
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