Technology & Engineering Resources
Engineering is Elementary: Using Simple Machines
Aisha Makes Work Easier: An Industrial Engineering Story
This unit guides students to learn about how factories use processes and machines to help make work easier and safer for workers. A storybook--set in and around the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts--as well as follow-up lessons reinforce concepts about simple machines. Special emphasis is given to the sometimes surprising settings in which we can find simple machines in our everyday world, as well as in a potato chip factory.
The lessons add depth to the notion that simple machines help make work easier, and also introduce the idea that different systems can also help make work simpler. Students compare measurements of the forces required to do work under different circumstances. They compare individual craftsmanship to factory production, and explore the benefits and disadvantages of the assembly line as a production process. For the design activity, students try their hands at industrial engineering, combining a series of simple machines to complete the various tasks of a model potato chip factory.
| Format | Book |
| Grades | K – 5 |
| Author | Museum of Science (Engineering is Elementary Team) |
| Source/Publisher | Museum of Science |
| ISBN | 1933758007 |
| Shelving Location | E 620 |
| Location | Educator Resource Center in the Lyman Library — Museum of Science, Boston |
| Website | Simple Machines & Industrial Engineering |
Engineering is Elementary: Using Simple Machines
Engineering is Elementary: Using Simple Machines
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Engineering is Elementary: Using Simple Machines
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Engineering is Elementary: Using Simple Machines
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