Tercero to Sexto September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training,

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Unit purpose and focus Design and make the frame for a box-resonated 3½ octave diatonic marimba that is easily stored and transported. Students will improve existing marimba designs to suit the needs of the school. Students will engage in the designing and making process to make a model of the frame for a box resonated 3 ½ octave diatonic marimba using illustrated instructions to assist their designing. The prototypes will be displayed, assessed against a set criteria and judged based on meeting that criteria. Students, parents, community experts and teachers will nominate the best design for a full scale model to be produced.

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Understanding the task The criteria should include: ease of transportation from one place to another, easy storage, safety aspects, aesthetics, durability and functionality; they will need to consider the future small scale mass production of the model. As part of the design process students will need to investigate materials suitable for construction of the marimba frame and the joining materials required. They will use sketches and drawings to develop their frame design, ensuring that it is to scale and clearly labelled. Unit overview Syllabus links Teaching and learning sequence

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Exploring and defining the task Research Click on the image to view the movie Research Click on the image to view the movie

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Researching the marimba Generating and developing ideas  Excursion Excursion  Audience Audience  Budget Budget  Hardware Hardware

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Researching the marimba Generating and developing ideas  Excursion Excursion  Audience Audience  Budget Budget  Hardware Hardware

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Producing solutions  Evaluating the instructions Evaluating the instructions  Putting it together Putting it together  Safety Safety  Building Building

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, On-going evaluation  Evaluation Evaluation  Timeline Timeline  Reaching the goal Reaching the goal

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Student 1 work samples Students were asked to look closely at the structure and joining of a marimba. This student has identified various features of the frame and legs that may assist with their own design. They have sketched the design and included features they felt were important to view close up.

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Student 2 work samples Students drew their design to a class specified scale of 1:2 (based on an estimate of a half size marimba). Following discussion as a class, and drawing on their research during the excursion to the workshop, a criteria was developed for a working drawing. Example A: Front (largest side of the base) view, B: Top view and C: Criteria.

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Student 3 work samples Students discussed the costs involved and were required to estimate their budget. They investigated the timber, tools, hardware and labour costs involved in the construction of their model.

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, The class group developed a set of criteria for working drawings. They referred to their criteria throughout the process with a focus on ‘would someone else be able to use my design process and achieve successful results?’

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Students used a Y-chart to develop a safety checklist. They worked independently before discussing their ideas as a group and then as a whole class. The checklist developed was specific to the task and recorded in their journals.

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Student reflection interviews What did you produce as a result of the design process? What aspects of your journal did you find useful? What skills did you gain? What skills do you think you could develop further? If you did the task again, what would you do differently?

September 2007 Technology education K-8: Design in practice © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, Teacher reflection What did you want the students to learn and why does this learning matter? I wanted them to learn about the design process and the associated knowledge and skills; and how they can be applied to an identified need. I wanted them to identify a specific need for our school community and interact with community members with the necessary expertise, interests and talents relevant to the project. This learning was important so that students realise that the skills, knowledge and experiences they use at school can be applied in their adult lives. What do you think students learnt? Some aspects of assembly, how to join and assemble a product. Basic workshop techniques, safe practices in a workshop setting, how to generate a concept from an existing design, how to evaluate a concept and how to complete a detailed design. What strategies did you find particularly helpful? Some from Thinkers Keys: WINCE chart, TAP, Y-chart, improvements and decision keys. Others: knowledge tennis, round robin and hot potato. What would you do differently? Save my project as I go. There were lots of power failures in our school! Allow more time for experimenting with materials and construction before making the final model.