Structures, Functions, and Materials

Teaching about structures is a great way to encourage hands-on learning, critical thinking, and real-world connections. From bridges and buildings to everyday objects, students love exploring how structures are designed, built, and how they hold up against different forces. In this post, I will share some fun and interactive teaching ideas that will bring this concept to life in your classroom.

Start with an Exploration of Real-World Structures 

Begin by showing students photos or videos of famous structures like bridges, towers, and even everyday objects like chairs or playground equipment. Ask them to think about why different materials are used in different types of structures. Why might a bridge be made of steel while a tipi is made from hides?

 

Hands-On Activity: Building with Toothpicks and Clay 

One of the best ways to teach students about structures is through building. Have your students construct their own frame, solid, and shell structures using toothpicks and clay. Let them experiment with different designs and then test their strength by adding weights or applying pressure. This activity not only encourages creativity, but also helps students understand how different types of structures can be designed for strength and stability.

Understanding Forces Acting on Structures 

Teaching students about the forces that act on structures, such as gravity, tension, compression, and shear, will deepen their understanding of why structures are built the way they are. A great classroom experiment is stacking books on different bridge designs to explore how weight distribution affects a structure's strength.

Integrating Reading and Writing 

Encourage your students to write about the structures they have built or studied. This can take the form of reading passages about famous engineers or construction projects, followed by a reflective writing piece. You could even have them create their own designs and explain the reasoning behind their choice of materials and structure types.

 

The Power of Observation: Examining Structures Around Us

Take your class outside (or do a virtual walk-through) and observe structures in your school or neighborhood. Ask students to sketch what they see and note which materials are used. This real-world connection will help solidify their understanding of why certain materials are chosen based on strength, flexibility, and durability. 

These ideas are just the beginning of how you can teach structures in a fun and interactive way! With a mix of hands-on activities, experiments, and reading passages, your students will not only understand the fundamentals of structures but also see how they apply to the world around them. 

Let Me Do The Planning!

If you are looking for a complete, ready-to-use resource that includes worksheets, experiments, reading passages, and more, check out my comprehensive Structures and Functions resources. The students will explore various kinds of structures, the materials used to build them, and the forces that impact their design. Students will discover key concepts like force, load, stability, strength, and balance as they investigate the real-world applications of engineering.

Dive into the science of engineering, guiding students through NINE sets of interactive teaching slides and activities. Each of the nine topics includes a set of interactive teaching slides paired with a print booklet containing hands-on activities, experiments, and reading passages to reinforce learning. 

Don't need slides? The second resource contains just the print activities. It has all the activities, experiments, and reading passages.

Both resources are designed to make your teaching life easier and your students more engaged in learning.

Structures & Functions, Materials Activities Worksheets Reading Passages Slides

$12.00

Structures & Functions Materials Forces Activities Experiments Reading Passages

$7.00

Simple Machines

Simple machines are a fundamental part of physics and engineering, and understanding how they work is important for many fields. They are also often used as building blocks for more complex systems and devices, and learning about simple machines can help students develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills. In addition, simple machines are often found in everyday objects and can help students understand how these objects work and how to use them effectively. Teaching about simple machines can therefore be a useful and interesting way to introduce students to physics, engineering, and problem-solving.

Check out my new resource! It has eight presentations about the six simple machines! Each presentation can serve as a COMPLETE lesson. In addition, each presentation has discussion questions, information, and digital or printable activities. To culminate the unit, students create their own Marvellous Machine!

Click here to visit my store and this product!

REFRESHED SCIENCE UNITS!

Needing some new ideas for teaching science? I got you!

I have refreshed my grade three science units!

Look no further for:

Plant Presentations and Activities

Structures and Materials Presentations and Activities

Magnets and Static Electricity Presentations and Activities

Soil Presentation and Activities

Perfect for distance or face-to-face learning, these interactive science resource include presentations, each with interactive activities, to help students scientific concepts. Each presentation includes information, discussion questions, and interactive activities. The presentations can be used as a whole class lessons, independent activities, stations, or small group instruction.

Structures and Materials

A tennis shoe is a structure. It holds our foot securely, so we can walk or run. A bicycle is a structure. It has a certain shape and size. It is built securely so we can sit on it and it can take us places. Learning about structures can be LOADs of fun!!!

Students will look at structures in our NATURAL environment, as well as MAN MADE structures. 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most famous structures in Italy. 

Learn about why it leans, as well as famous landmarks:

  

Through interactive Google Slides, students will experiment and learn about:

• The STRENGTH of a structure is its ability to hold a load.
• The STABILITY of a structure is its ability to maintain balance and to stay in one spot. 
• The PROPERTIES of materials, such as STRENGTH, FLEXIBILITY, and DURABILITY, need to be considered when building materials. 
• The TYPES of structures, such as FRAME, SOLID, and SHELL.
• FORCES that affect the shape, balance, or position of structures.
• STRUTS and TIES which help strengthen and stabilize structures.

If you are looking for fun ways to teach Structures and Materials, whether face-to-face or digital, this resource is for you.

How To Teach A Science Mini Lesson

I did it!
I finally made my first educational video.


I wanted to share ideas for teaching science. Using examples from my Teachers Pay Teachers resources, I share how to engage students in scientific concepts using:

1. Connections
2. Teaching
3. Active Engagement
4. Linking

The video shows how science can be hands-on, inquiry-based, and FUN!

Please enjoy the video and post your feedback.

Science

Science is one of my favourite subjects! The students love to be engaged in activities that deepen their curiosity about the natural and constructed world.

When creating my science units, I aim to engage student in inquiry about a topic. The unit has ample opportunities to:

• ask questions about objects, organisms, and events in the environment 
• plan and conduct a simple investigation
• use simple equipment and tools to gather data 
• use data to construct a reasonable explanation 
• communicate investigations and explanations
• promote enjoyment of science

My science units often have a presentation to focus the inquiry and introduce each concept. It is often a discussion starter, so I display the relevant slide at the beginning of the lesson.

In my Motion and Position unit, the concept of friction is introduced. We had discussed the definition of friction as the contact force between two objects moving against each other. Now we needed to explore this concept with concrete examples. Sometimes friction is needed to slow us down. We talked about how running shoes help us on the gym floor during a lively game of tag and how winter boots help us when we step onto a patch of ice. The slide serves as starting point for our discussion and inquiry of friction. We then progressed to explore friction through hands-on investigations.

In subsequent lessons, we explored other forces that impact motion. As we explored gravity, we discussed how we need to pedal our bicycle harder on an incline. We then tested this theory of gravity using created slopes and toy cars.

Explorations help solidify students' understanding of a concept and clear up confusions. Hands-on experiments allow students to test predictions, gather relevant data, and communicate their scientific learnings. In this exploration, we are exploring air resistance or drag.

Students are often surprised that the lighter piece lands first. This is a great opportunity to discuss drag. Resistance and friction cause changes in acceleration. Air resistance (drag) slowed down the heavier piece. Drag opposes the direction that the object is moving and slows it down.

To culminate the unit, we like to complete a hands-on project to show off our learnings. In this unit, the students build a roller coaster that can move a marble at least 2 different ways. They are provided materials and design with the following questions in mind:

• What factors affect the movement? 
• Is there a pattern to the movement?

We also like to play a cooperative digital game! The unit contains questions for students to answer. The next slide shows the answer. It is a fun way to check what we have learned!

This unit, Motion and Position, is available in my TPT store. It includes slides, activities, and low-prep experiments featured in this post AND MUCH MORE to help students explore motion - how things move, their relative position, and forces that impact movement.  It is perfect for distance learning and can be easily uploaded to your digital classroom.

I hope this post shows how I teach science and helps you with ideas for your classroom. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I love teaching science!

Rocks and Minerals

Whew! Uploaded Rocks and Minerals Anchor Charts and Word Wall to my TPT store today. My students have enjoyed sorting and classifying rocks and minerals. They enjoyed testing the hardness of minerals and determining if Moh's Scale of Hardness is correct.

The Rocks and Minerals Anchor Charts and Word Wall helped students grasp new vocabulary and visualize concepts. The Word Wall cards assisted in composing responses, as well as sorting activities.