Inventions: Making the World a Better Place
Grade Level: Sixth Grade
Theme: Inventions
Standards: ALCOS 6.1: Describe the Westward Expansion and its technological, economic, and social influence on the people of the United States prior to World War I.
Objective: Students will gain a further understanding of the inventions of the 1800s and early 1900s by simulating an assembly line with their peers.
Materials: word find; Prezi; note guide; leather cords with one end knotted; colored beads (blue, green, red, yellow, etc.); large bin filled with mostly brown beads and only a few colored ones; extra worksheets (included below)
Set Induction: As students enter the room, they will be asked to complete a word find that introduces them to multiple inventions that will be covered in the lecture.
Explore: Teacher will ask students which inventions they were able to recognize in the word find, then say we are going to talk about a few of the people who invented these devices. The teacher will pass out the note-taking guide and go through the inventions Prezi.
Explain: Teacher will split the class into even groups, then give each group five leather cords and cups with beads separated by color. The teacher will explain that they will be doing an activity that shows the efficiency of assembly lines. Each student will be in charge of one bead color, and the leather cord will be passed down to each student in the group, so they can put their color bead on the cord. The last person in line will knot the end of the cord, and the process will continue. The class will be racing the teacher, who represents one person who had to scavenge for supplies and make their bracelets alone. The teacher will be making the same amount of bracelets as the entire class put together. So for example, if the class is split into five groups, each group has to make five bracelets, and the teacher has to make twenty-five bracelets. The goal is to have the class finish each of their bracelets faster than the teacher, which illustrates the efficiency of assembly lines.
Closure: Students will write a reflection about the assembly line activity in their journals. Afterwards, they will complete a worksheet that compares and contrasts inventions used before those created in the 1800s and after.
Differentiation: Closure worksheet has two forms – one for general student body and one for low-achieving. Click the pink titles to be taken to a copy of each.
Resources:
schoolexpress.com
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/01/assembly-line-simulations
