Whether one stays at home or goes to work, one uses simple machines in their everyday life unknowingly. Simple machines are useful as they help people to perform difficult tasks easily with less effort.
Small children often perceive machines as complex, or something dangerous but teaching students about simple machines help them to learn not only about their surroundings but also enhance their critical thinking skills.
Pulley is one of the most useful simple machines ever made. The basic definition of pulley:
“A pulley is a mechanical component that helps transfer motion and power through a wheel turned by chain, rope, cord, or belt.”
In simple words, a pulley helps us to lift a heavy load with less effort using a machine.
To educate our little Nursery Class about a simple pulley machine and how it works, teachers organized a lesson purely based on exploring about simple pulley machines and how to use them for our day-by-day purposes. The purpose of such activities is to make students aware of their surroundings and teach them how to make their work easier.
The start of the lesson was with circle time where all the students gathered outside and learned about the pulley machine using resources and tried their best to engage in the conversation by asking and answering simple questions.
Afterward, they experimented with the pulley machine in their first activity where they lifted some load such as “stuff toys, pebbles, blocks” in the basket and unloaded it by pulling the thread with the help of a simple pulley machine made from the wood, basket and a thread to demonstrate how a pulley machine works. The children enjoyed the activity and explored how to lift heavy loads by using less force.
In the next activity, the students made their simple pulley machines with the help of a few objects such as a “shoebox, paper glass, stick, and a thread”. In this activity, the students were shown a sample of how to make a pulley machine, and next, they successfully made their pulley machines and lifted some objects with their help.
The last activity was quite fun for the students as they were shown two different types of simple pulley machines “a bubble blower and a thread winding machine”. The students tried out both the machines and discussed their uses and how they help us to make difficult tasks much easier and more efficient.
