Best for
Years 5-8 science, tool analysis, and design tasks where students need to connect force ideas to practical devices.
Science • Years 5-8 • Physical science and design
Simple Machines
Use this handout to help ākonga identify the six simple machines, analyse how tools make work easier, and apply the idea to everyday Aotearoa contexts.
Free tool-analysis scaffold, premium design pathway
This page already contains the classification and application prompts. Te Wānanga can adapt it for a local design brief, school context, or integrated science-technology sequence.
- Swap the examples for tools and devices your class already knows.
- Create a support version with fewer machine types and more visual cues.
- Save the adapted design brief in My Kete and refine it in Creation Studio later.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 35-50 minutes.
- Grouping: Pair or small-group classification, then independent response.
- Prep: Optional real tools or images for comparison.
- Teaching move: Keep bringing students back to the idea that the machine changes how force is used, rather than “creating strength from nowhere”.
Resources already provided
- Six-machine summary
- Tool-analysis table
- Application prompt
- Support, core, and stretch tasks
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
The page already includes the analysis and design prompts for the lesson.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning to identify the six simple machines.
- We are learning how simple machines make work easier.
- We are learning to apply this idea to real tools and design problems.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can correctly identify a simple machine in a tool or object.
- I can explain how the machine changes the force used.
- I can suggest a machine type for a practical problem.
Curriculum integration / Te Mātaiaho alignment
Use the companion page to connect this handout to force, design, and practical problem-solving. The strongest teaching move is asking students to explain the function, not just match labels.
Simple machines in practical work
Students often already use simple machines without naming them: ramps, screwdriver handles, pulleys, doorstops, scissors, wheels, and levers all appear in ordinary classroom and community life.
That makes this topic a useful bridge between science ideas and design or technology thinking.
A mātauranga Māori lens can sit naturally here through practical problem-solving, tool use in everyday mahi, and attention to whose work a design makes easier.
The six simple machines
Lever
A bar that pivots around a point.
Wheel and axle
A wheel attached to a rod that turns with it.
Pulley
A rope or cable around a grooved wheel.
Inclined plane
A sloping surface that spreads force over distance.
Wedge
Two inclined planes joined together.
Screw
An inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder.
Tool-analysis table
| Tool or object | Which simple machine is involved? | How does it make work easier? |
|---|---|---|
| Ramp | ||
| Scissors | ||
| Wheelbarrow |
Design problem
Choose one problem
Your class needs to move something heavy, lift something high, or split something apart. Which simple machine would help most, and why?
Support, core, stretch
Support
Use the sentence frame: “This tool uses a... because...”
Core
Complete the analysis table and justify one design choice clearly.
Stretch
Explain how a compound machine combines more than one simple machine.
Students may respond through labelled sketches, oral explanation, or full written sentences depending on readiness.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Curriculum alignment for this handout has not yet been verified against the live curriculum statements. A generated placeholder that stood here was removed on 2026-08-29 because it matched no real statement.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
Mātauranga Māori is a sophisticated knowledge system built through centuries of careful observation, hypothesis, testing, and refinement — the same processes that define scientific inquiry. Māori knowledge of ecology, weather patterns, seasonal change, and animal behaviour guided sustainable resource management for generations before Western science arrived in Aotearoa. Understanding science through a dual-knowledge lens — bringing mātauranga Māori and Western science into dialogue rather than hierarchy — produces richer, more contextually grounded understanding. The concept of kaitiakitanga reminds us that scientific knowledge carries obligations: understanding how natural systems work means accepting responsibility for how we treat them.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. This handout stands on its own; it is not part of a linked unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.