I'd have to ask first, Whats the purpose of the class?
If its to train machinists then making useful machinist tools makes sense. Though kind of boring.
If its a manufacturing class that is part of an engineering program, 1-2-3 blocks or sine bars are kind of useless.
My friend/college room mate and now business partner taught the intro manufacturing course here at the university for a while. He decided that the
nutcracker they had been making for 30 years was kind of boring. His project was pretty cool, they made little battery operated cars and raced them.
They vacu formed the body (he had the mold made), they lost foam cast the frame, they machined the frame and turned their rims, and then had a race.
Money was pretty small, I think he was at like $6 for the tires, crappy little motor and the deal to hold a AA battery or 2.
When I was in college, the CNC machining week or so, each group got a block of wax, 1 hour on the machine (or maybe it was 45minutes), 1 tool change,
a 1/4" endmill and a 1/8" endmill. All hand coded, we made a man, with swinging arms and legs. Wax pins didn't work so well, I think we came in 3rd place
in the class, and I think we only got that because it fit on the 1st place groups motorcycle perfectly.