Motorworx

Fun, engaging, and different learning experiences are always a hit with children.

The Motorworx Education Programme – now available at Bill Richardson Transport World – is based around the assembly-line production of the Model T Ford. Aimed at students in years 6 to 10, Motorworx is a hands-on learning activity based around the concept of the Model T Ford assembly line, which revolutionised manufacturing worldwide.

As far as cars go, there are fewer names bigger than Henry Ford.

Often regarded as the ‘father’ of modern-day manufacturing, Ford has perhaps had the greatest impact upon the development of the automobile as we know it: and if you’ve visited us here, you’ll know that Bill was a big fan.

(You won’t see a single Holden here – although you will find a replica of Henry Ford’s workshop!)

The Motorworx education programme is the only one of its kind available in New Zealand, and we are now taking expressions of interest from teachers. Motorworx is a flexible and versatile education programme, with opportunities for educators to tailor its delivery to suit the needs of their students.

So what is Motorworx?

Students take on the role of a production worker on a simulated assembly line producing cardboard replicas of the Model T, which they get to take home. Each student will be assigned a different task.

The opportunities for student learning are diverse and the programme links with the New Zealand curriculum. Students taking part will:

• Learn about the Model T Ford and why it was such a success
• Learn the principles of how an assembly line works, and why it was more efficient than any other production method
• Understand the effectiveness of teamwork
• Develop a problem-solving approach to learning
• Understand the problems associated with working as part of an assembly line
• Understand the hierarchical nature of working in a factory in the early 20^th Century
• Learn about the concept of quality control
• Discover how changing technology affected people’s lives at home and in the ways they worked, travelled, communicated and played in the past

Did you know?

• The idea for creating an assembly line was introduced after a Ford factory worker saw ‘dis-assembly’ lines in Chicago’s meatpacking industry: animal carcasses were butchered by workers standing at fixed stations
• Cars moved along to one of 84 stations where workers would attach the specific parts needed
• The introduction of the moving assembly line mean cars could be produced faster than most paints could dry – hence the myth that the Model T only came in black! The only shade that dried fast enough (until 1926, that is) was a deep black. After that, the Model Ts came in a variety of colours
• By 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with just four months’ pay: the assembly line had made cars much more accessible to the average person

If you are an educator who would like to learn more about the Motorworx Education Programme, please get in touch.