Sitemap http://www.knex.com Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved Students will use K NEX materials to build investigate draw and describe the area of polygons. Students will use K NEX mathematics conventions as they describe the area of polygons. Individual students will transfer the polygons they construct to paper and describe the area of these polygons with appropriate mathematics terminology to demonstrate their individual understanding of the relationship between the K NEX models drawings and their areas. Students will include representative polygon drawings and area solutions for a variety of models they or their classmates create. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=198 Students will use K NEX materials to create a train of right triangles and find the linear relationship between the number of rods and the number of triangles in the train. They will then find the linear relationship between the number of connectors and the number of triangles in the train. These linear functions will be represented as tables graphs and equations. The representations will be used to extend the patterns. The investigation is repeated with a train of squares. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=197 The students will be able to ul li Modify the design of a windmill for investigative purposes li li Evaluate the effectiveness of design modifications li li Collect organize graph and interpret investigative data li li Design and conduct a fair test investigation with appropriate data displays li ul http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=196 Students will read and interpret ordered pairs use data to construct an image on a coordinate plane and identify the image produced. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=195 For this activity you will need paper circles to represent points paper plates work well paper arrows and yarn. Given one of the vocabulary words point line line segment ray obtuse angle right angle acute angle straight angle the students will select the materials they need to act out the vocabulary word. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=194 In a previous activity students investigated how different release heights impacted the speed of balls on ramps with different inclines. In this activity students use another object on the track the coaster car. This allows students to explore how mass impacts the speed of the car when it is released. They may be surprised at the impact that mass has on the speed of an object. Students will also examine what happens to the speed of the car when the angle of elevation is reduced and mass is added. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=193 Ask the students if they have ever used a spiral staircase or a spiral water slide. Discuss what happens when using one of these mechanisms. Encourage them to consider what it is like to travel up or down one of these structures. Ask them if it takes longer to reach the water using the spiral slide or jumping straight down from a diving board. They should be able to recognize that they travel a long way around the spiral longer than if they were to jump straight down. Using a spiral allows a gentler descent than the diving board but the vertical distance they travel is the same in both cases. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=192 Building upon the previous investigation of the See Saw students explore another first class lever system the balance. The vocabulary transfers to this new learning opportunity and students have a chance to show what they have learned and remembered from the previous investigation. This new K NEX model enables students to adjust the location of balance trays on the balance arm to bring objects into balance. Collected measurements allows students to explore their ideas and make comparisons. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=191 A pulley is a grooved wheel with a rope or chain that runs around the groove. Pulleys can be either fixed or movable. Fixed pulleys like those attached to the top of a flagpole do not move. Movable pulleys are pulleys attached to objects that are being moved. They move as the object is moved. Both types of pulleys are used to lift heavy loads and often times they are used together to provide the greatest lifting force. An investigation of a working K NEX Education elevator model allows students to gather data and experience for themselves the lifting force of fixed and movable pulleys. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=190 DNA is most commonly found in a double helical structure in living cells. This means that when two pieces of single stranded DNA bond together through complementary base pairing to form the ladder structure discussed in Lesson 1 the ladder tends to twist into a coil or helix. This coiling occurs naturally due to the chemistry of the atoms involved. Basic chemical principles tell us that any three atoms in a row will arrange themselves to form a specific bond angle that is determined by the atoms involved and any other atoms to which they are bonded. The net result of all the atoms in a DNA molecule selecting their preferred bond angles is the double helix. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=189 Students will arrange the 24 white Connectors and all the Rods from their set on their desk or table. The students will make as many different closed 2 D shapes as they can with the K NEX pieces they have to select from. Squares rectangles rhombi parallelograms hexagons octagons pentagons etc. are all possible. Upon completion of the building activity students learn techniques to transfer all of the shapes they have created to paper. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=188 DNA exists most commonly in nature as a double helical structure. The double helix of DNA resembles a twisted ladder. A closer inspection of the chemical structure of the DNA ladder reveals that the side rails are made of alternating sugar and phosphate molecules. The sugar of DNA deoxyribose is represented by the gray piece on the K NEX DNA model. The phosphate molecule is the light blue Clip on the K NEX DNA model. These two molecules are connected by the purple Rod the phosphodiester bond on the K NEX model. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=187 A lever is one of six simple machines. There are three classes of levers classified by the arrangement of forces and the fulcrum along the arm of the lever. In this investigation students explore a first class lever. First class levers are those in which a pivot point or fulcrum separates the input force or effort force from the output force or load force. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=186 This is a free building activity in which no prior knowledge of bridge construction is assumed. Students are provided with a limited set of resources and are given a limited design and create task to carry out. Their performance in this activity establishes a baseline measure of their knowledge and understanding of structural engineering concepts and it is against this that individual progress can be monitored as they work through this part of the curriculum. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=185 This first activity with the K NEX Education Amusement Park set will involve using an inclined plane model ramp to develop their building skills to gain practice in taking various types of measurements and to acquire knowledge of some basic scientific and mathematical concepts. In the first activity they will investigate whether or not the height at which a ball is released down a ramp impacts distance over time. In the second activity they will find an answer to the question Does the incline of the ramp impact distance over time http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=184 Students begin a hands on investigation of gears with the aid of three different versions of the K NEX Education Crank Fan model. Each version of the model has a different gear ratio. Students collect data relative to each version of the Crank Fan and use that data to make comparisons of the speed of the fan for the various gear ratio designs. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=183 As students investigate the K NEX Education See Saw model they learn about the scientific concept of work and the idea that simple machines can make work easier. The students will also observe the operation of levers and begin to identify the location of the various parts of a lever system. Students will be prompted to offer examples of levers that they use or see as a part of their daily lives. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=182 Students build a steep ramp and a longer gentely sloping ramp in order to compare the two ramp systems. Which ramp requires the least force to lift objects Which ramp gets the job done the fastest Is it easier to use a long ramp or a steep ramp for a task http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=181 This Introduction to the study of bridges establishes some basic vocabulary and some of the considerations that must be addressed as bridges are planned and constructed forces materials shapes loads . The students are prompted to share what they already know about structures and bridges in order to provide valuable information to the teacher. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=180 Using K NEX Education s Real Bridge Building construction kit pupils investigate the cantilever principle the tensile and compressive forces that act upon a cantilever and the ways in which cantilevers are used in the design of bridges. This will involve teams of pupils constructing and testing a replica of a real world cantilever bridge from K NEX and researching how location site and intended use affects the final bridge design. http://www.knex.com/Educators/View_Free_Lesson.php?lesson_id=179