1 Perry Peak News Beached Whales! News Flash! There was a large commotion today at the coast near the town of Perry‘s Peak. A large group of whales became stranded on the beach. This presented a huge problem for sun bathers and nature enthusiasts. The bigger problem is how to rescue them before they perish. The onlookers tried everything they could think of from pushing the whales into the water with tractors to bribing the whales with food. Nothing has worked so far. The town’s mayor is hoping that a solution can be found soon! Real World Solutions: Levers & Pulleys Project How can we use our knowledge of levers and pulleys to solve real world problems? For this project, you will be organizing into “companies” to solve real-life problems involving the use of levers or pulleys. You will begin by answering the following four guiding questions: • What will we lift? • How heavy is it? • How high will we need to lift it? • What is the best way to lift the load? (lever or pulley) This first stage may involve some research. For example, if the challenge you have chosen involves moving a whale, you might need to look up the average weight of a whale. The next step will be to create a scenario in which your load must be moved and to where. This would be the “real life problem” aspect of the assignment. You will answer the following guiding questions: • Why does my load need to be lifted? • Who needs the load lifted? • Where does my load need to go? • What is my timeline for lifting the load? You will need to create a newspaper ad or feature story to introduce the scenario you are solving. For example, if your problem involves moving a piano, you may create a “help wanted ad” for a person requesting help from a local company. On the other hand, you might be using a feature story in a newspaper about a beached whale needing lifted from your local beach.