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Webquest · High School Physical Science · SPS8

Simple Machines Webquest

Work, Power, Mechanical Advantage, the Six Machines and the Trade-off

Work through the stops in order. Each button opens in a new tab: finish that stop, answer on your webquest sheet, then come back to this page for the next one.

Start with Stop 1 ↓For teachers ↓
Students

How it works

1. Get your sheet

Your teacher gives you the webquest sheet (paper or digital). Every answer goes on it.

2. Open each stop in order

Each stop opens in a new tab. Use the sliders and buttons on that page — your answers come from what you see.

3. Come back here

Close the tab, tick Done, and open the next stop. Finished early with a partner? Play the bonus.

The webquest

Stops

  1. Stop 1 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 2, questions 1–5

    Simple Machines Unit Intro

    Read the piano problem, pick a big question, play two activities.

    Open Stop 1 The piano problemBig questionsExplore activities
  2. Stop 2 · about 6 min · your sheet: page 3, questions 6–12

    Simple Science Video: Simple Machines

    Watch the one-minute video twice and fill in the table.

    Open Stop 2
  3. Stop 3 · about 10 min · your sheet: page 4, question 13

    Vocabulary

    Flip the Word Wall cards and define 14 words in your own words.

    Open Stop 3 Word Wall (unit intro)Machines vocabulary (Part 10)
  4. Stop 4 · about 13 min · your sheet: page 5, questions 14–21

    Machines Part A: Work and Power

    Run the work tester, cover the triangle, race two motors.

    Open Stop 4
  5. Stop 5 · about 13 min · your sheet: page 6, questions 22–28

    Machines Part B: The Six Simple Machines and the MA Machine

    Watch all six machines move, read their cards, run MA both roads.

    Open Stop 5 Part 2: The six simple machinesPart 3: Mechanical advantage (the MA machine)
  6. Stop 6 · about 14 min · your sheet: page 7, questions 29–35

    Machines Part C: The Lever, Pulley and Wheel-and-Axle Labs

    Push all three lever classes, count pulley strands, crank the wheel and axle.

    Open Stop 6
  7. Stop 7 · about 14 min · your sheet: page 8, questions 36–42

    Machines Part D: The Trade-off, Efficiency and Compound Machines

    Run the ramp payment plan, switch on friction, find the machines inside, run an investigation.

    Open Stop 7
  8. Wrap-up · your sheet: page 8, questions 43–44

    Wrap-up: Solve the piano problem

    Go back to the piano problem at the top of the unit intro and explain, with what you learned, where the "missing" force went and what the mover gave up.

    Open the piano problem
  9. Bonus · for partners who are both finished

    Bonus: 1v1 HS Simple Machines

    1. Only when you and a partner have both finished every stop.
    2. One computer, two players: Red uses the W A S D keys and Blue uses the arrow keys. It needs a keyboard, so it will not work on a phone.
    3. Press Enter the Arena, pick a game, and play to 3 wins.
    Open the 1v1 game
Teachers

For teachers

Post this link for your students

https://www.tobinscience.com/webquest-hs-machines.html

Students move through five free tobinscience.com resources in order: the Simple Machines unit intro, a one-minute Simple Science video, the unit vocabulary, the full Simple Machines section (Parts 1–4: a work tester that only counts force in the direction of motion, the work triangle and calculator, a power race, all six simple machines in motion with their cards, the MA machine with both roads, a lever lab for all three classes, a pulley lab that counts strands, a wheel and axle, the ramp payment plan with and without friction, an efficiency calculator, a compound machine finder and a plan-and-carry-out investigation), and a 1v1 review game for early finishers. Every answer comes from what the page shows, matching SPS8.d.

SPS8 · Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explain the relationships among force, mass, and motion. Element d: Use mathematics and computational thinking to identify the relationships between work, mechanical advantage, and simple machines.
Time: about 80–85 minutes (two 45-minute periods, or one block)

What students need

  • One Chromebook or computer per student (the 1v1 bonus needs a keyboard and two students on one computer)
  • Headphones are optional (the video is about one minute)
  • No student accounts or sign-ins; nothing to install

Every stop at a glance

Good to know

  • The intro's Lever Lab and Work or No Work? rounds and the three endless practice scores are randomized, so those answers vary. The simulation readouts (the seven work-tester scenes, the power race, the MA machine, the lever, pulley and wheel-and-axle readouts, the ramp payment plan, the efficiency calculator, the compound machines and the investigation data) are fixed, so those match the key.
  • Stop 1 activities award joules that are saved only on that device; students write their score on the sheet.
  • Every number on the sheet follows the Unit 10 keys: W = F × d in joules, P = W ÷ t in watts, MA with no units (ideal from distances, actual from forces), efficiency = output work ÷ input work × 100%.
  • The page has no Virtual Lab Bench lab for this unit, so Stops 4–7 are the four teaching parts; Part 3 is split so that its MA machine (two roads) sits with the six machines and its three labs get a stop of their own.
  • The 1v1 bonus is for pairs who have both finished. It is head-to-head review of the whole simple machines unit.
  • The machines page also has three endless practice sets, Machine practice (Part 5), worked examples, real-life cards, a myth-or-fact set, a 10-question practice bank and a lever-class sort that the webquest does not visit. They make a good warm-up the next day.
  • Short on time? Stops 1–4 make a good first day and Stops 5–7 a second day.
  • The printable student webquest and its answer key come with the Word / PDF webquest download. This page holds no answers, so it is safe to post.