Henry Ford Museum
Sustainability: Environmental Management and Responsible Manufacturing
When you think about environmental sustainability, the Ford Motor Company probably isn't the first company to come to mind. A four-lesson unit introduces learners to the idea of sustainability and environmental stewardship. It describes...
DiscoverE
DiscoverE Challenge: Pen Factory
Manufacture a great lesson on industrial manufacturing. A fun resource has learners use the production of pens to consider how assembly lines work. They write out a set of instructions for assembling a pen, test it out, then determine if...
Henry Ford Museum
Human Impact on Ecosystems
An environmenta science unit includes three lessons plus a cumulative project covering the ecosystem. Scholars follow the history of the Ford Rouge Factory from its construction on wetlands and how it destroyed the environment to its...
Curated OER
Manufacturing Technologies: Making a Picture Frame
Middle schoolers use cereal boxes, paint, buttons and glue to design and make a frame for a photograph. They consider the different processes involved in making the frame and discuss how their observations apply to manufacturing systems...
Curated OER
“How it’s made…a career”
What does it take to land a manufacturing job? Upper graders explore the objects around them, where they were manufactured, and what they need to obtain a manufacturing career.
Curated OER
The DIY: A Hands-On Look at the New Industrial Revolution
Upper graders explore the new industrial revolution and how the tech boom in recent years is similar and different to the Industrial Revolution of the past. They watch a video, explore web sites, and discuss what they see. They work...
Curated OER
Lowell and the Factory System
Students examine the efforts of early American manufacturers to implement the factory system on a large-scale in the town of Lowell, Massachusetts. They examine the idealistic goals of the industrialists who financed and built the...
Oxfam
Sweatshops - Exploitation Is Never in Fashion
Here's a resource that brings home the idea that we are all part of a global community, that our actions have far reaching consequences. Class members examine the labels in their clothes, create a list of the manufacturers, the countries...
Curated OER
Industrialization In Lowell, Massachusetts
Young scholars explore the idealistic expectations of the industrialists who financed and built mills in Lowell, Massachusetts. They research how the expectations of Lowell mill founders compared to the reality of life in the textile...
Curated OER
Interchangeable Parts Revolutionize Clock-making
Students consider assembly line production. For this lesson on Industrialization, students explore rifle manufacturing then create a workshop in the classroom to assemble clocks. They determine the pros and cons of assembly line...
Curated OER
The Ethics of Outsourcing to China
After viewing clips from a documentary on factory work in China and US outsourcing, learners have a fishbowl discussion. They work in groups to build both personal points of view and strong arguments on the effects of outsourcing in...
Curated OER
Was There an Industrial Revolution? New Workplace, New Technology, New Consumers
High schoolers examine the changes in the U.S. in the period of industrialization before the Civil War. They analyze census data, list/describe inventions and innovations, explore various websites, conduct a Factory Simulation activity,...
University of Wisconsin
Why Did the Triangle Fire Occur?
An investigation of the 1911 New York City Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire leads class members to examine primary and secondary source materials related to the event and apply what they learn about the working conditions at the time to...
US Environmental Protection Agency
A Mock Town Meeting on a Proposed Tank Farm
Intended as a follow up to the Protecting Your Drinking Water activity, young environmentalists use their assessment of the a hypothetical town's water supply to debate the installation of underground chemical storage tanks. With the...
Henry Ford Museum
You Can Be an Innovator ... Like Henry Ford
Why did Henry Ford want to invent a car for the masses? Why did Henry Ford locate his factory in Detroit? Why did Henry Ford encourage the idea of a 5-day work week? Young innovators find the answers to these and other question in a unit...
Curated OER
Cracker Design
Students are presented with the following problem: A cracker manufacturer has been losing money and has to find a way to save her factory. They are given the task to design a new shape for the cracker manufacturer so that as little...
Curated OER
The Candy Factory Problem
In this word problem worksheet, students solve 1 word problem in short answer format. Students determine the amount of candy to put in ten bags to fill any order between one and one thousand.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 13
Class members conclude their reading of the supplemental text, “Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for our Cheap Clothes?” and use the provided Evaluating Argument and Evidence Tool to analyze the evidence Anna McMullen uses to...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 14
As a mid-unit assessment, writers use evidence from the supplemental reading articles "Globalization," "Our Addiction to Fast Fashion Kills," and "Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for Our Cheap Clothes?" to draft an argument...
American Documentary
Confucianism in a Changing Society
The Last Train Home, a 2009 documentary about China's migrant factory workers, provides viewers with an opportunity to explore how China's emergence as a global manufacturing force is challenging Chinese traditional values like filial...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama's New South Era
The industrialization and urbanization of Alabama during the New South era (1865-1914) is the focus of a lesson plan that asks class members to use primary source documents to examine the impact of industrialization on Alabama workers...
Curated OER
Wages, Earning Power, Profit, and Responsibility: International Lessons
Students participate in an interactive activity to determine where their clothers were made. They examine the lives of children from Latin America who harvest crops in the fields or manufacture apparel in factories.
Curated OER
Early Industrialization
Eighth graders analyze primary source documents emphasizing young people in factory labor (mill workers during 1840-1860). They study hours of labor, ages of laborers, reasons for working, and working conditions. They write a poem or song.
Curated OER
The Pizza Puzzle
Students identify the origin and preparation of the main ingredients in pizza. They identify the food safety procedures followed in a pizza factory and then prepare and eat a pizza in class.