Learn-It Kits: A Hands-On Approach to Teach Machine Elements and Mechanical Design Principles

Imagine a textbook, where you read about something then hold it in your hands, feel it, try it out and then see it in action. This is the experience that Ms. Smith and Mr. Grau Serrat hope to bring to MIT students with the Learn-It kits. They plan to develop a machine elements curriculum where every chapter is a box that contains real, physical examples of the elements along with explanations of how they work, guidelines for selecting and sizing the elements and examples of how they are used. The examples will show applications in a range of technologies, with a special emphasis on examples they have encountered in their D-Lab field work that highlight the creativity and skill of our community partners. Each box will include problems that will guide students through the process of analyzing and selecting the elements and when applicable, will also include simple experiments and exercises for the students to perform to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the principles that guide the use and performance of the elements.