Ancient China Printer STEM Challenge

lesson overview

Travel to Ancient China with your students for an educational adventure with this complete lesson! Read the letter from fictitious travel guides explaining the invention of the Movable Type Printer in China. Students will learn about inventions and replication as they make their own movable type printers! Do you discuss STEM Careers in your classroom? This lesson includes an activity where students become industrial engineers and learn how to optimize a process. Then using the engineering design process, student teams are tasked with designing and building a movable type printer to optimize printing like the original inventor! Students also learn about the STEM career of chemistry in addition to industrial engineering to bring in real-world STEM connections. The included mission-related math problems extend the learning fun!

This lesson also includes an extension activity with instructions to build and test a homemade compass which was also invented in China! This works great as an in-class extension or for a take home project.

As with many STEM activities that are student-driven, this challenge can be tailored to students of various skill levels and abilities.

Included in this product:

• Detailed teachers guide with links to resources

• Grading rubric for the engineering design process

• STEM Career Connections

• Industrial Engineering activity instructions

• Student handouts to guide them through the engineering design process

• Math extension problems

• Compass extension activity

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