skip to main content

Making Work Easier

Machines make work easier—as students learn about in a storybook visit to a potato-chip factory. This unit guides students to think like industrial engineers as they explore the surprising variety of simple machines people use every day. Students also explore the pros and cons of assembly lines compared to making things by hand, then measure the force it takes to complete a task with and without a simple machine to help. Finally, they put their data to the test, combining a series of simple machines to create an assembly-line subsystem for a model potato chip factory.