Students learn how simple machines — levers, ramps (inclined planes), wheels and axles, and pulleys — make work easier by changing the size or direction of a force, identify them in everyday tools, and interpret a ramp-and-lever investigation.
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Curriculum: Australian Curriculum. We show specific outcome codes only where they have been verified against the official curriculum document.
Completed: Simple Machines: Levers, Ramps and Wheels
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Year 4 students (typically ages 9–10) working on forces & motion. It is pitched at level 2 · standard.
Yes. The PDF includes a full answer sheet with model answers and success criteria where there is more than one good answer. You can also view the answers online.
About 30 minutes for 15 questions. Short, regular sessions work best: two or three a week beats one long one.
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Success TutoringWorksheetsYear 4 · Science · Forces & MotionName
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Look for a bar and pivot (lever), a slope (ramp), a wheel on a rod (wheel and axle) or a rope over a wheel (pulley).
Read the passage. Then circle the best answer.
A simple machine is a tool with few or no moving parts that makes work easier. It can let us use a smaller force, or change the direction of a force.
A lever is a bar that turns around a fixed point called the fulcrum. You push on one part (the effort) to move something on another part (the load). Seesaws, crowbars and bottle openers are levers. The further from the fulcrum you push, the less force you need.
A ramp (inclined plane) lets you lift something using a smaller force by moving it a longer distance. A wheel and axle is a wheel joined to a rod, like a doorknob or a steering wheel. A pulley is a wheel with a rope around it. It can change the direction of a pull, like on a flagpole.
Simple machines do not make work disappear. When you use less force, you usually have to move further.
Write True or False.
Preview — the PDF contains the full resource and answer sheet.
Students learn that friction is a force that slows moving things when surfaces rub together, that gravity pulls things towards the Earth,…
Students learn that some forces act only when objects touch (pushes, pulls, friction) while others act from a distance (gravity,…
Worksheet · Year 2 · Forces & Motion · Level 1 · Easier
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