I dont’ want to say it.
Don’t make me say it.
It’s already August!
While I know that many of you don’t want summer to end, the reality is that in several short weeks we will be heading back to our classes to begin prepping for the 2021-22 school year. To make the transition into school mode a little easier for you, in this blog post I have included a lesson plan for a classroom simulation based on the Industrial Revolution. It is called The Assembly Line, and I know your upper elementary and middle school students will enjoy it!
The Assembly Line
Classroom Simulation
Montessori Physical Education
Introduction:
The Industrial Revolution, which started in Europe and quickly spread across the world, increased production through the use of machines and new energy sources. Daily life was fundamentally altered as people moved away from farming and countryside life and started migrating towards cities and urban areas to find work. There was a significant increase in life expectancy, free education (arguably to create a better workforce), and better wages for unskilled labor. However, workers were often exploited, which created the necessity for labor unions. The history of the Industrial Revolution is fascinating, and it still has ramifications on today’s political and cultural climate.
In America during the turn of the twentieth century, Henry Ford introduced a novel concept to mass production which was inspired from meat packing plants in Chicago. In these plants, animal carcasses would be moved along a conveyor belt from worker to worker who would have a specific task for the processing of the meat. This idea, to have the product move to the worker (instead of vice versa), would allow more work to be done in a shorter time, and less skill was needed by the operator because they only needed to know there section of the assembly. Previous to the assembly line, cars were very expensive and were rare. After the assembly line, more cars were produced faster, and more workers were hired, which contributed to a growing middle class in the United States.
Another major change of the Industrial Revolution was the price of goods; supply and demand was drastically altered due to the new speed that goods could be produced. Because it was cheaper to process resources and transform them into useable goods, the supply went up, which in turn lowered prices. For cars, this meant that many more people could own them since they were cheaper, which revolutionized how Americans travelled. Workers could live in suburbs and commute, and increased mobility created the travel industry and the restaurant boom. Even though wages generally increased for those working in factories and manufacturing, working conditions were still pretty poor compared to today. The Industrial Revolution made basic and mid-level items less expensive, but goods that required lots of expertise and craftsmanship still demanded a higher price.
In this game, the students get to experience the changing landscape of the workforce during the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Students will start as independent craft workers, and some will transition to factory work while others are able to remain independent. This game demonstrates the assembly line dramatically changed the landscape of the goods and services, as well as the workforce.
Preparation:
· Lots of paper (at least a ream of paper)
· Metal geometric insets
· A pencil for every student
· Lots of colored pencils or markers
Prior Knowledge: This is a good simulation at the end of a book group or for a history lessons that discuss aspects of the Industrial Revolution.
Presentation
· Explain to the students that it is the beginning of the industrial Revolution, and the students are independent crafts people who are making “commercial art.” The art piece should be able to be created using mostly geometric shapes. For the example of this lesson plan, I’m going to use a house with grass and a Sun in the background.
· We shall say that each portrait of the house, when done correctly, will be sold for two dollars. Each independent craftsperson needs to make a total of five good portraits to survive the round and remain independent. Ten dollars was the amount that most people lived off a week during the Industrial Revolution, so five cards at two dollars a piece brings them a total of ten dollars for the week. The time limit per round should be anywhere from five to ten minutes.
o If the students can make more than five good portraits in the time provided, they can keep the money above the ten dollars for the next round. If someone made seven portraits, they can keep four dollars for the next round, which is profit that can be used to make ends meet in the next rounds.
· Have a clear instruction list of what the students need to do to make a “good” card that can be sold for the two-dollar amount. Here is an example of the house:
o The base of the house must be a square
o The roof of the house must be an isosceles triangle
o The door of the house must be a rectangle
o The house needs two windows, and each of them must be squares as well
o The grass in the background needs to be a straight line
o There needs to be at least two flowers
§ A straight vertical line for the stem
§ A circle for the flower
§ Straight lines project off the flower for the petals
o There needs to be a sun in the top left corner that is a circle
· Supply the students with at least five pieces of paper and a pencil. When everyone is ready, tell the students to begin. Once the time is up, they need to put their pencils down.
· The teacher checks the work of the students to see if pictures met the requirements.
o When going through the checklist, as soon as one item does not meet the requirements, that disqualifies the art from being sellable.
§ It is up to you to decide how strict you are to be with the requirements, but strict works better
· This is less a test of artistic ability, and more of a test of precision with their geometric shapes (which should spare some feelings since we are not saying anyone’s “art” is good or bad)
· Every student who successfully created five pieces of art moves on to the next round and continues to be an independent artist. Every student who did not complete the objective is going to work in the “factory.”
o The students in the factory will be paid ten dollars a week for their work, but they must follow the directions of their boss.
· To make the factory, put tables or desks together in a line so pieces of paper can be easily passed from one person to the next. The starting size of the factory is the number of students who did not meet their objective from the first round.
o Within the assembly line, give each student a specific job with specific tools. Some workers may need to do more than one job on the line, or there may be enough workers that they each do a separate piece of the art. Here is a checklist of how the above art can be broken into smaller components to be made on the assembly line:
§ The main body of the house needs a large square metal inset for tracing
§ The roof needs an isosceles triangle metal inset that fits the top of the square
§ The door needs a smaller rectangle to trace for the door
§ The windows needs a small square for tracing
§ The grass needs a ruler for the straight line
§ The flower can be constructed with a ruler and a small circle for tracing
§ The sun needs a large circle metal inset for tracing
o The ruler and metal insets represent the machinery of the assembly line, which aids the workers in completing their work. The students need less skill, and will be able to work faster because the tools make their work easier to do.
· Round two will go the same as the first round. The independent workers can select one piece of equipment i.e. one metal inset, a ruler, compass, etc. The students who are in the factory will have all the equipment that they need for their specific task within the assembly.
· When the instructor says, “Go,” they will begin constructing the houses again. For this round, shorten the amount of time they have for making the portraits by a little bit. For example, instead of five minutes, make it four minutes.
· Once the round is over, check the independent craftspeople to see if they met the requirements and survive again for the next round. Any money that is made over ten dollars is applied to the next round. In general, the more money a player makes each round, the more successful they are. As the factory gets up and running, they are safer when times get more difficult. Any independent worker who did not make the required amount of portraits and does not have enough money to survive the week must go to the factory in the next round.
· Once the independent workers are checked, now it is time to look at the work output of the factory.
o The goal of the factory is to make as many portraits as they can within the time allotted, which should be significantly more than what the individual workers were able to do by themselves. The factory should, at minimum, be able to produce five portraits per worker, but the goal is to produce more than that.
§ If there are five workers in the assembly line, they should be able to make at least twenty-five perfect portraits.
· If there are mistakes in the portraits, check to see if it is consistent and can be attributed to one worker. If so, show them what they are doing wrong so they can fix it next time.
· If the factory did not make at least twenty-five portraits, they all get a “warning” that they need to go faster.
· If the factory produces more than twenty-five portraits, tell the workers they did a good job, and don’t say anything else. This extra money is profit for the assembly line. The assembly line wants to maximize profit, which would pay back loans for the machinery, or go in the owner’s pockets. The factory does not necessarily want to play the workers more, but this can an incentive the instructor gives out if they think that it will work as motivation to get them to work harder. However, increasing their pay can only happen if they make a profit.
· Play the game as many rounds as you like or have time for. Each round a student remains an independent worker allows them to get one piece of new equipment. However, as the time continues to decrease each round, it will become more and more difficult to remain independent. As more workers are added to the assembly line, each worker can be responsible for less so they can produce their individual job faster.
· When the simulation is over, have a discussion about the benefits above the assembly line, as well as a small discussion on the basics of supply and demand. If the assembly in the factory can produce more products faster, that means they can also lower the price of the goods, which will make more people buy the product. This was the case with the Ford motor company that revolutionized the auto industry when they made the Model-T car, which could be purchased by the everyday person and not just the rich. Also take some time to talk about the downsides of the factory and the assembly line. The workers could no longer make a profit for themselves, and the profit they generated goes the company.
· As the boss of the company, you can make several decisions that will affect the conversation at the end of the simulation. If you are a fair boss, the assembly line made a profit, and wages were increased, this can lead to a good discussion on how the middle class was built, as well as how companies could become very large if they are successful. If you decide to be critical of your workers, or not share in the profits that they make, this could help drive a discussion on the necessity of labor unions that helped workers not be exploited and get their fair share of the revenue.
Aims:
Direct: For the students to understand how an assembly line functioned within the Industrial Revolution
Indirect:
· Empathy
· Character building
· Resolve
Control Of Error:
The teacher will be the person who decides if the portraits meet the requirements. Either eyeballing the portrait, or even better, using a ruler or metal insets to check for accuracy. Depending on how big the class is, you may need more than one adult to check the work quickly. Having an adult check work while the simulation is going on can be very helpful.
Age: This simulation is best suited for upper elementary and middle school