From Raw Materials to Dreams
Students research the source of raw and manufactured materials used in the
production of automobiles or other vehicles.
What You Need
- Magazines, books, brochures about automobiles
- Reference materials on automobile manufacturing
- Poster board
- Drawing materials
What to Do
- Tell students that they are going to learn more about the process
that makes a real automobile out of a designer's idea of a dream car.
- Divide students into teams that include a variety of talents: writers,
researchers, artists, organizers, the mechanically adept, good printers.
Have the teams look at magazines and other materials with pictures and
descriptions of automobiles. Encourage each student to design a dream
car, the automobile she or he would most like to own as an adult.
- Since individual students within a team may favor different models,
ask each team to come to a consensus on which model they would like
to diagram. Suggest that each proponent take about three minutes to
"sell" the model to teammates. Then have the group vote for a single
- Each team will create a diagram, on a poster board, of their favorite
car. The diagram should use legends to explain where the major parts
and materials (such as chrome, steel, rubber, and glass) come from.
For example, they might draw a line from a tire to an informative caption
that traces the process of turning raw rubber into a tire. Teams should
divide among themselves the responsibilities for the different tasks,
such as making the diagram, researching specific comments, writing the
text for the legends, and hand lettering the text (or producing labels
on a computer).
- Have a spokesperson for each team present the completed diagram to
the whole group. Display the posters so that students can study them
individually or in teams.
- Have students include a global map on which they indicate where the
raw materials that go into each car originate.
- Some students may be able to diagram the process by which a car reaches
an owner, that is, the parts moving to the manufacturer from different
plants, being put together on an assembly line, shipping to showrooms,
and so forth.
- Students can print advertisements for automobiles to analyze the
persuasive language. They highlight words and ideas with strong emotional
content and make an oral presentation to describe how that language
is used to persuade buyers.
- Have students write a first-person account of an "adventure" they
have in their dream car.
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