← Engineering

Mechanisms

Gears, levers and pulleys trade speed or distance for force; cranks, cams and linkages change one motion into another.

Design and Technologies (Engineering principles and systems) is the home; ratio from Maths, forces and simple machines from Science and loops from Code are applied, not taught. Each lesson is the maths shape (Predict, Try on a board, Worked example, Vary, Practise, Make) around a design brief with criteria and constraints. LEGO Technic or Meccano gears make a good hands-on start before the board.

Foundations

MechanismsGears, levers and pulleys: trade speed or distance for strength.How mechanisms trade one thing for another. Gears trade speed for turning force; levers and pulleys trade distance for force, by the same factor; a design brief decides which trade is right.

Extensions

Linkages and camsChange how things move.Machines rarely want the motion a motor gives them. A crank and slider turns rotation into back and forth, a cam's shape becomes a follower's path, and four bars turn a crank into a rocking arm, if their lengths allow it.After: Mechanisms

Other pathways: Structures · Physical computing · CAD and fabrication · Design your own board