This Teacher Guide has been revised to ensure that it coordinates with our new Materials Kit and Kit Refill.

If you currently own the 2007 version of this guide and want to purchase material kits, please call 617-589-0230, between 9am and 5pm, EST.

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INCLUDES ONE PAPERBACK STORYBOOK

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.

FOSS Connection: Levers & Pulleys
STC Connection: Balance and Weighing
Insights Connection: Lifting Heavy Things

Each Teacher Guide includes:
-Lesson Plans
-Paperback copy of the storybook Aisha Makes Work Easier
-"Industrial Engineering and Making Work Easier" DVD
-Teacher Background Information
-Assessment Tools
-English Language Learner suggestions