We had so much fun doing our simple machines unit in science, you know why? We got to make a compound machine that is a fun playground structure for our Virtual Science Fair project. We decided to make a spinning teeter totter! To build a teeter totter you need to make sure that it is safe and that you use good materials. And if you’re stuck for ideas, maybe even do a survey. A good thing to do first is to do your research, like my partner and I did. We learned a lot of things we did not know about before, just by doing research! Here they are!

As part of our project we needed to use primary research so we decided to survey a grade 3 class. We chose to survey a grade 3 class because we thought our question would be most appropriate for that age. Our question was “What in a playground do you like the best?” We chose to ask that question because we were not quite sure which simple machine action we should build. The choices in our survey were a slide, swings, a bridge or monkey bars. The results indicated that 8 people preferred the swings, 5 people preferred a slide, 5 people preferred monkey bars and nobody preferred a bridge. 18 kids were surveyed in total and most of them (in this grade 3 class) preffered swings. We noticed a teeter-totter is a similar simple machine that is similair to a swing and would provide the same motion as a swing, and the spinning teeter-totter seemed like a even more thrilling combination of simple machines to build.

We learned that about 200 000 children are treated in U.S. emergency rooms each year because of playground related injuries so we had to research safety. We found out that a shock absorbing material should be embedded in the ground for safety, so we decided to put springs in the ground so kids would not plummet down to the platform. We also decided to have a sign telling everyone that you must be over 7 years old. Everyone must be over 7 years old to ride because you may fly off the teeter-totter like my dad once did if you are much younger. The fulcrum should be unbreakable because it may cause a serous injury if it breaks. We decided to make a thicker fulcrum to prevent this from happening. After we consider all these safety issues I think our structure will be pretty safe.

To build our full scale compound machine we need the right materials so we decided to do research about the materials to use. For our handles we would use stainless steel. We would use stainless steel because it does not require painting or treating to prevent it from rusting and it is very smooth to touch. For the lever arm we would use play deck. We would use play deck because the rubber surface provides excellent anti slip properties, it is environmentally friendly and requires no maintenance. These are some materials we would use to make our play structure safe and strong.

While doing our research, we learned many important facts. Such as the fact that about 200 00 children are treated in U.S. emergency rooms every year because of playground related injuries. We also learned that stainless steel is a good strong material to use for making handles. And especially that you need to be most careful in making a playstructure safe when you build it.Overall this was very interesting and exciting research..