LEARN NC

Car board game.

CareerStart lessons: Grade six

4.8 Car mania: The legacy of the Industrial Revolution

By Shea Calloway and Julie McCann

Provided by CareerStart

Learning outcomes

Students will use their knowledge of the Industrial Revolution to brainstorm careers that can be found in modern industry.

Teacher planning

Materials needed

  • Crayons, markers, or colored pencils
  • Blank white paper or construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Car template — at least ten copies for each group of students. Make additional copies to have on hand.
  • Optional: egg timer

Time required for lesson

Approximately 70 minutes. Homework time may be needed.

Pre-activities

  • Before the lesson, make copies of the car template. You should have at least ten copies for each group of four or five students, with plenty of additional copies on hand.
  • Prepare for the car-making activity by using the template to create a model of the kind of car you will expect from the students. The model will be used to demonstrate your definition of a high-quality car.
  • Before the lesson, review with students the history of the Industrial Revolution. It would be helpful to show the students an example of what an assembly line looks like. Suggestions and examples:

Activities

  1. After studying the Industrial Revolution, discuss with the class how industry helped to make more consistent products at a faster pace. (10 min.)
  2. Guided practice: Work with the class to make a list of jobs and companies associated with industry. List companies from both the past and the present. Discuss how these jobs and companies may have affected the regions in which they were located. (10 min.)
  3. Independent practice: Tell the students they are going to pretend that they are working on the assembly line of a huge automotive plant that is researching ways to improve its production. This means they need to examine how their assembly lines are working. Tell the students they will be experimenting and evaluating these assembly lines for the company.
  4. Put the students into groups of four or five. Give each group the following supplies:
    • construction paper
    • glue
    • scissors
    • crayons, markers, or colored pencils
    • car template — at least ten copies for each group

    Have plenty of additional copies of the car template available for students.

  5. Tell the students they will be managing their own assembly lines, and that they will have ten minutes to assign jobs to each student and to set up their assembly lines. Each student in the group must participate in the assembly line. Give the students ten minutes to set up and prepare. If you have an egg timer, use it to time the students.
  6. When the planning time is over, tell students they will have 20 minutes to assemble as many high-quality cars as they can. The cars must be cut out, fully colored, and have four wheels glued on appropriately. Tell students that only high-quality cars will be counted in their final tally, and show them a completed model so they understand your definition of a high-quality car. Clarify that students may only use the supplies you have provided for this task. If you choose, you may offer a prize for the group that produces the most high-quality cars in the 20-minute period. (Examples may include homework passes, lunchtime seating privileges, etc.)
  7. Begin timing the students. As they work, circulate between the groups to make sure everyone is participating and that the lines are moving smoothly. (20 min.)
  8. After 20 minutes, tell the groups to stop. Have the students stop all work and count each high-quality car to see which group produced the most. Announce the winners.
  9. Facilitate a class discussion to analyze the groups’ work. Have the members of the winning group discuss how their assembly line was set up, and ask members of other groups what they did in the same way and what they did differently. You may want to have each student create a Venn diagram that illustrates how his or her group’s process compared with the process of the winning group.
  10. Conclude the lesson by relating the assembly line activity to the Industrial Revolution. Emphasize that some of the Industrial Revolution’s most enduring legacies are assembly lines and interchangeable parts — elements that are still in use in modern manufacturing enterprises. Discuss how assembly lines have affected real-world companies like Kraft Foods, Dell, Coca-Cola, and Ford Motor Company. How would these companies be different if assembly lines didn’t exist?

Extension

For homework, have each student choose one manufacturing company and write a one-page essay discussing about it, addressing one of the following topics:

  • How might the company might be different if assembly lines didn’t exist?
  • Aside from the workers on the assembly lines, what jobs are needed at the company to ensure that its production is efficient and safe, and that its products are high in quality?

Assessment

Assess students on group participation, participation in discussion, and on Venn diagrams and/or essays.

North Carolina curriculum alignment

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 6

  • Goal 6: The learner will recognize the relationship between economic activity and the quality of life in South America and Europe.
    • Objective 6.02: Examine the influence of education and technology on productivity and economic development in selected nations and regions of South America and Europe.
  • Goal 7: The learner will assess connections between historical events and contemporary issues.
    • Objective 7.02: Examine the causes of key historical events in selected areas of South America and Europe and analyze the short- and long-range effects on political, economic, and social institutions.