Specialism: Making our designs

This week we have been making our designs

STEM learning involves figuring out how to solve problems

 like how to draw a circle on board

you have to measure the diameter

and try and figure out what to do next... 

drawing around the tyre is not an option

eventually a way is figured out.. string, a nail and a pencil..

a quick cut on the jigsaw..

now lets clamp it down and start to shape it with the saw..

straight lines are marked out..

now we saw..

developing our technique

after a bit of finishing.. we have a circle... and the makings of a seat...

some are using timber....

after measuring.. we mark out..

measure twice... cut once...

checking our parts fit...

making sure our designs are safe for our students... 

at the same time learning new skills...

Specialism: Planning the making of our designs

Once we had our design ideas we had to think about how we were going to make them

the information we gave was an opportunity for discussions about why nails or other aspects of our designs might or might not be appropriate

why rope might not be good for the senior students

why feet may not be appropriate for our design/s

then we had to show our understanding of materials and their properties...

then try and guess how an existing design might be made...using instructional writing and modal (bossy) verbs... stating materials and equipment we could use...

we also did a little learning about the difference between timber (wood) and manufactured boards.. learning about why some boards (MDF) are not good for us and why we need to behave safely around them

then we started our planning... 

making sure we wrote each stage and listed materials and equipment we might use... we didn't know if it would work but we used the prior knowledge we had and tried to be sensible and logical in our thinking...

problems we may have

skills we need to learn...

hopefully we might be right... we will soon see..

Specialism: Researching and designing our furniture

Our students have been researching furniture...

'to help them with their design ideas next week..

they have been encouraged to look at tutorials on making furniture.. 

to gain an insight into how it could/might be made

some have used google images and found inspiration this way..

you tube, google images and instructables was popular..

the challenge was to try and understand how furniture is made 

as well as to be inspired by designs and ideas

some students wanted to make mock up/prototypes after they were inspired

old tyres and ripped shade sails

some realised that marking out was important too

others just tried out ideas

some recorded notes on how to make furniture

then we got on with design ideas... using our 3D drawing skills...

cylinders.. represented tyres..

we had to communicate our thinking and 

try and put as much information on as possible

some also added notes to their designs

some were personalised

we had to consider the needs of stakeholders

we kept on making mock ups

some worked

some were safer and had more potential then others

we had questions that we tried to answer... can you cut a tyre in half?... so we can use half tyres in our designs......we tried with a hacksaw but it was hard work

can we use fabric..? what about the rain..? what about other students..?

Specialism: A new year 2017; basic skills

This term we will be studying Hard Materials

But first we revisit some basic skills....

How to draw... lettering... and how to add colour...

How to lay out our lettering using guidelines..

then adding colour to enhance our work..

once we can control the pencil we move on to drawing 3D shapes..

but first we need to check our understanding of them..

then learn how to draw them..

and use these basic shapes to form real objects..

following rules.. like using horizontal, vertical and parallel lines

and practicing this... all leading to our help with design ideas next week...